


Cruel World Be Forgiving

by WynterSky



Series: Cruel World [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-03
Updated: 2015-03-14
Packaged: 2017-12-04 05:46:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 32,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/707222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WynterSky/pseuds/WynterSky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Through a fluke of fate, Itachi is born with the Mangekyou Sharingan and Fugaku has no choice but to order him killed.  Sixteen years later, he has to deal with the consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This was my pseudo-NaNoWriMo story from 2011 (I finished it on December 6th). I really love playing around with character backgrounds and relationships, so a lot of that shows up in this story.

Uchiha Fugaku stared down at the tiny infant he was holding in his arms. The baby’s eyes opened, and Fugaku braced himself against the tug of genjutsu, gently turning the baby’s head away until the eye contact was broken.  
  
It had been almost two weeks, but it still felt like just a few minutes ago that he had been waiting outside the hospital room while Mikoto gave birth. Over the infant wails he had suddenly heard a horrified gasp from one of the midwives, and burst in, fearing that an assassin had somehow crept past the guards. When he opened the door, nothing looked out of the ordinary until he noticed the unnaturally blank expression of the young nurse holding his son.  
  
Fugaku wasn’t sure how the child could have been born with the Mangekyou Sharingan, and he also wasn’t sure that he wanted to know. At first, he had tried to pretend everything was normal, then isolate the baby. The reports of headaches and dizziness near the maternity ward were easily explained away. Two heart attacks in one week were harder to pass off as coincidences.  
  
After the first suicide, Fugaku knew he couldn’t pretend anymore.  
  
“You asked for me, Fugaku-sama?” someone said quietly behind him. “No offense, but couldn’t it have waited until morning?”  
  
“No, Kichirou, unfortunately not,” Fugaku replied. “I need you...I need you to get rid of this,” he finished quickly, holding the baby out.  
  
Kichirou took the baby, and Fugaku could tell by the other man’s face that he was thinking of Obito, safely asleep at home. “Fugaku-sama, is this really necessary?” As one of the few people Fugaku really trusted, Kichirou knew something of the situation, but not how far it had gone.  
  
“Yes, I’m afraid— _no, don’t!”_  
  
Kichirou froze, the kunai in his hand barely an inch above the baby’s tiny form. Somehow the baby had remained silent through it all, which only added to the unnatural atmosphere.   
  
Fugaku struggled to catch his breath as Kichirou put the kunai away. “No, no, you don’t have to—do it like that, just...leave it...the baby...somewhere where no one will find it.”  
  
“But—”  
  
“Just go, Kichirou.”  
  
Kichirou vanished before Fugaku could change his mind, and Fugaku sat down at his desk with a sigh. The mental image of what had nearly happened made him sick, and what was going to happen wasn’t much better.  
  
What was he going to put in the records about this?  
  
Worse, what was he going to tell his wife?


	2. Chapter 1

It was only chance that Kakashi took that particular road home on that particular night. He and his team had gotten back to the village late after training, so Kakashi took the most direct route back to his apartment.  
  
Team 7 was shaping up to be a much better team than he had originally expected. While they needed to work on the actual teamwork, as they hadn’t quite figured out yet how to fight without getting in each other’s way, they all trusted each other, which was more important.   
  
A small sound as he passed the library made Kakashi pause briefly on an adjacent roof. Through one of the windows, he caught sight of two silhouetted figures fighting, then a sword slashed down and the lights went out.  
  
Instantly on the alert, Kakashi circled around the library so that he could enter behind the intruder. While it only took a few moments to release the seals on the window, the frame was stuck and he finally had to break the glass to get in, wincing at the sharp shattering sound. There was little chance that it had gone unheard, and he half-expected to be attacked as soon as he entered the building.  
  
All the lights were off inside. As Kakashi slipped through the window, he was struck by a sudden, insistent thought that nothing was wrong here and he should just get on home. Honestly, what had he been thinking?   
  
“ _Kai,_ ” Kakashi said quickly, pulling his headband up. The genjutsu dispelled, and Kakashi, remaining hidden behind the bookshelves, crept towards the window where he had seen the intruder. With the Sharingan, he could see fairly well even in this darkness.  
  
Whoever had broken in wasn’t there when Kakashi got there, but someone else was. Iruka was lying underneath the window amidst a scattering of fallen papers. The slash across his chest did not look serious, but he was clearly in pain as he started to rise, probably from being thrown against the wall. As Kakashi helped the teacher into a sitting position, Iruka pointed towards the stairs heading up into the jutsu archives. “He went that way. I couldn’t reach the alarms in time.”   
  
Kakashi nodded. “I’ll handle this,” he said quietly. “You get yourself to the hospital.”

* * *

Kakashi ascended the winding stairs carefully; he could only see a little way ahead of himself at a time, which gave the thief the advantage if he chose to set an ambush. The layers of genjutsu were becoming harder to push through, so Kakashi knew he was getting close.

  
There was a soft rustling of paper from the other side of the room as Kakashi slipped out of the stairwell. The thief was either in a hurry or sure that his genjutsu would not be broken. Stepping around the corner of a bookcase, Kakashi caught his first sight of the thief stuffing several scrolls into a satchel.  
  
The thief spotted him at the same time, and was almost instantly in motion, darting toward the windows lining the room. Kakashi moved to cut him off; at first he had thought it was a girl from the long hair, but changed his mind as he got a closer look.  
  
Kakashi flung a spread of kunai, but the thief dodged them easily and reached the window before Kakashi could catch him. As the thief touched the glass, however, there was a flare of chakra and the thief jumped back with a gasp of pain. Apparently Iruka had stayed around long enough to lock down the library before leaving, raising the chakra barriers that would prevent egress through any opening except the main doors.  
  
“You can’t get away,” Kakashi said. “Put down the satchel.”  
  
Instead of obeying, the thief stubbornly slung the satchel over one shoulder and gracefully turned, crouching slightly in a fighting stance, a katana appearing in one hand as if from nowhere.  
  
They watched each other silently for a few seconds, both wary of making the first move. Kakashi finally sprung, throwing another spread of kunai at the thief. Here in the library he couldn’t use any of his more damaging jutsu, which left him somewhat limited. He barely managed to evade the thief’s sword strikes; without the Sharingan he would have been done for, and it was no wonder that Iruka had been taken so easily by surprise. For a moment, Kakashi thought he could see a red gleam behind the thief’s bangs, but was too busy parrying to give it much thought.  
  
This went on for a little while, Kakashi dodging the flickering blade while trying to think of a way to get the edge that wouldn’t end up with him spending the rest of his life paying for damages to the library.  
  
Suddenly, heavier footsteps could be heard running up the stairs. The thief’s minute distraction at this was just enough for Kakashi to get through his defences and kick him solidly in the ribs while slashing through the strap of the satchel with a kunai. As the thief staggered back a few feet, Kakashi grabbed the satchel.  
  
Instead of attacking again, the thief made eye contact for the first time, and Kakashi quickly realized that he hadn’t been imagining the red eyes.  
  
Kakashi could feel himself stepping forward, obediently holding out the satchel, but couldn’t make himself do anything about it. His Sharingan was working overtime, but was still completely ineffectual against this level of genjutsu. The room around him seemed to have disappeared into a red blur, and all he could see was the bright crimson eyes of the thief in front of him.  
  
The thief was just reaching out to take the satchel when there was a flash of motion, the red mist dissipated, and Kakashi had control of his own body again. “Obito? What are you doing here?”  
  
“Iruka came by the police station before heading to the hospital. I was the closest so I came as fast as I could,” Obito explained, kneeling to lift the unconscious body of the thief. “Looks like it was a good thing, too. Any idea who this is?”  
  
“Not a clue,” Kakashi replied. “You should be the one to know, the police force keeps track of all the rogue Uchiha.”  
  
Obito frowned. “Uchiha?”  
  
“You took him from behind, so I guess you didn’t see, but he definitely has the Sharingan. And I don’t think it’s implanted,” Kakashi added in answer to what he was sure Obito’s next question would have been. Picking up the satchel, he followed Obito as his friend started toward the stairs, carrying the thief. “To police headquarters?”  
  
“No, hospital,” Obito replied. “I hit him harder than I could have, and by the way he was standing when I came in you already got him pretty good. Besides, maybe Rin can find us some answers.”  
  
“I sure hope so,” Kakashi said.

* * *

Rin was not pleased at being summoned in the middle of the night, and told them so, but Kakashi knew that she would never refuse the other members of her team anything no matter how much beauty sleep she lost. He did, however, refrain from any comments about beauty sleep, for fear that she might take it the wrong way.

  
“So, who is this?” Rin asked, motioning to the unconscious boy on her operating table after she had finished telling Kakashi and Obito off for waking her so rudely.  
  
“Well...we were kind of hoping you could find out,” Obito said. “Like, with a blood test or something.”  
  
“It doesn’t quite work that way,” Rin pointed out, “unless we have a blood sample from one of his parents at the hospital. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you anything about police procedure, but shouldn’t you have taken him down to Interrogation instead of coming here?”  
  
“Sure, but...” Obito shrugged, and gestured vaguely towards the thief. “Something’s strange.”  
  
Rin laughed indulgently. “Well, as long as he’s here, I might as well fix him up for you. Then maybe he can tell us what’s going on himself.”  
  
Rin’s hands began to glow a gentle green as she carefully slipped one hand under the boy’s head and ran the other over his ribcage. Obito dragged a chair over while Kakashi watched Rin warily. He wasn’t sure he agreed with Obito’s decision—Obito’s blithe declaration of ‘we’ notwithstanding. Whoever this boy was, he was a trained assassin, and if he decided to escape Kakashi would be hard pressed to stop him. Still, the thief, whoever he was, looked much less dangerous and almost fragile, lying on the stark white operating table as Rin bent over him.  
  
“There, that’s all—”   
  
Rin suddenly froze, her face going slack as the boy’s eyes opened. Kakashi pulled her away, turning her around and shaking her by the shoulders. “You okay?”  
  
“...Fine,” Rin said after a moment. “But what was that?”  
  
“The Mangekyou Sharingan,” Obito said from behind them.  
  
“Mangekyou...” Kakashi repeated thoughtfully. He had heard of the secondary form of the Sharingan, but due to its near-mythical rarity, he had never encountered it before.   
  
Kakashi turned back towards the table as he sensed movement. The thief was sitting up now, but kept his head down so that his hair hid nearly all his face. He seemed to be trying to make himself very small, and his hands were clasped together.  
  
“What were you doing in Konoha?” Kakashi demanded.  
  
“I was sent,” the boy said quietly. There was a slight hitch in his voice, as if he wasn’t used to speaking very much.  
  
“By whom?”  
  
“My master.”  
  
“Who is...?” Kakashi wasn’t sure if the boy was trying to be cryptic, or if he actually expected them to know what he was talking about. In any case, the boy didn’t answer that question, but shook his head and continued staring at the floor. “Who sent you here?” Kakashi repeated, taking a step forward.  
  
The boy flinched, ducking his head a little, but steadfastly remained silent and Kakashi gave up on that line of questioning for now. “What’s your name?” he asked.  
  
“Sen.”  
  
“And your surname?” Obito cut in before Kakashi could continue. “Do you have a family name?”  
  
Sen shook his head.  
  
“How old are you?” Rin asked.  
  
“I don’t know,” Sen answered. Kakashi tensed as Sen started to raise his head, but he only glanced at them quickly before going back to looking at the floor again. “Maybe...fifteen?” he added after a few seconds, apparently guessing from their surprised faces that he hadn’t given the right answer the first time.   
  
Rin started to ask another question, but Obito pulled her and Kakashi away to the other side of the room. “What is it?” Rin said.  
  
“I just thought of something,” Obito replied, speaking quietly so Sen wouldn’t hear. “Uchiha Mikoto’s first child was born sixteen years ago.”  
  
Kakashi stared at him. “Obito, I know I don’t see as much of the Uchiha as you do, but I do know that Mikoto and Fugaku only had the one kid, and he’s twelve, not to mention already at home by now.”  
  
“The baby was stillborn, at least according to the records. Most clans don’t talk much about that sort of thing.”  
  
“What are you getting at?” Rin asked. “What does that have to do with anything?”  
  
Obito took a deep breath. “Okay, this is probably going to sound crazy—”  
  
“Don’t worry, we’re used to it,” Kakashi cut in.  
  
“But,” Obito went on, “I think that Sen...let me finish, okay? See, I was only little when that child was born, but I’m pretty sure that something funny was going on. Mikoto was in the hospital for a couple of weeks, and I know the baby was alive then because I heard people talking about it. Then my dad had to go on a mission in the middle of the night...and when he came back, he came and held me and _cried_. My father never cried, ever, that’s why I remember. And, after that, nobody said anything about the baby anymore.” He paused a little shakily, then went on. “So maybe, this boy is...”  
  
“That does sound crazy,” Kakashi said, “But it’s actually not a half-bad explanation, if this were a movie.”  
  
Rin slapped Kakashi’s arm lightly. “Stop teasing! I’ll run some tests, you two get out of my way.”  
  
“I don’t think you should be alone with him,” Kakashi said.  
  
“I am a ninja,” Rin said archly, “And he hardly looks dangerous now, does he?”  
  
Kakashi had to agree that Sen did not look very threatening at the moment, as well as the fact that Rin could take care of herself quite well. However, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy at the situation. They were going over a lot of people’s heads right now, and if Obito’s hunch didn’t play out they could all be in a lot of trouble.  
  
If Obito’s hunch did play out, though, Uchiha Fugaku would be in a lot of trouble, and Kakashi found that he didn’t exactly mind that idea. “Okay. But be careful.”


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the time of writing this story, I hadn't quite sorted out why Rin and Obito were alive. Basically, they ended up on another mission before the one in Kakashi Gaiden, and were still recovering at the time they would have gone on that mission. At some point I am going to write a proper story to explain all that.  
> (Obito is currently missing an eye, which is the one Kakashi has, but at the time of writing that hadn't been decided yet.)

The next morning, Fugaku was supervising as Sasuke practiced throwing shuriken at targets behind the house. He had paperwork that he was supposed to be doing, but the house always seemed emptier in the morning and he had been glad of the excuse to sit outside. While Fugaku knew it was foolish, he wanted to keep the last member of his little family close; he had barely slept when Sasuke had left for his first overnight mission.   
  
If it was punishment for what had happened sixteen years ago, shouldn’t Fugaku have been the one who died, instead of Mikoto?  
  
Sasuke stopped after getting several bull’s-eyes in a row, coming over curiously as someone ran up to Fugaku with a message. “Otou-san, what is it?”  
  
“Your Sensei wants to speak to me,” Fugaku replied. “Come on, let’s see what he wants.”  
  
Kakashi had little liking for the Uchiha in general, and Fugaku in particular; this probably had something to do with Obito’s situation before he had activated his Sharingan. In any case, it made things rather awkward to have Sasuke be on Kakashi’s genin team. Still, there were no full-blood Uchiha Jounin taking student teams, so Fugaku made the best of it, and begrudgingly had to admit that the last Hatake was a good teacher.  
  
Kakashi was lounging indolently against one of the gateposts as they walked up. “Uchiha-san, Sasuke,” he greeted, straightening up.  
  
Fugaku nodded curtly in response, annoyed as usual with Kakashi’s casual disrespect for protocol. “Kakashi-san. What are you here for?”  
  
“The Hokage wants to see you right away,” Kakashi replied.  
  
“Very well.” If that was all, why send a Jounin like Kakashi who almost certainly had better things to do?  
  
“Oh, and we found your other kid, by the way.”  
  
For several seconds, Fugaku stood frozen, the blood pounding in his ears the only sound he could hear. How could this be? The child was dead—he had seen to it, and regretted it ever since, even though it had been the only choice. This was impossible.   
  
But if it was true, what was he to do about it?  
  
“Otou-san, what’s he talking about?” Sasuke asked in confusion, breaking the silence. “What other kid?”  
  
“Sasuke, go back inside,” Fugaku ordered immediately.  
  
“But what—” Sasuke began to protest.  
  
“Go, Sasuke!” Fugaku snapped. Sasuke’s eyes widened a little at the rough tone, so rarely used with him, before he turned and ran back to the house.  
  
Kakashi raised an eyebrow and Fugaku glared at him before leading the way into the city. Kakashi followed closely; it seemed that the Hokage did not trust Fugaku to face the consequences of his own decisions. Certainly he had regretted what he had to do, but if the Hokage chose to publicize the scandal that was now inevitable, the damages to the Uchiha clan would be tremendous. The clan had already fallen on hard times since the Kyuubi attack; if any further disrepute fell on them even historically minor clans such as the Nara or Akimichi would be able to surpass them in influence.  
  
The Hokage tower was bustling with activity, as it usually was in the morning. Paperwork chuunin scuttled out of the way of the glaring Uchiha leader as he stalked through the halls towards the Hokage’s office. Kakashi paused briefly once or twice to help pick up scattered papers but otherwise kept close on Fugaku’s heels.  
  
The Hokage was the only one in the spacious office as Fugaku stormed in. “Ah, Fugaku, there you are,” he said smoothly, before Fugaku could demand an explanation. “Please, sit.”  
  
“Thank you, I’d rather not,” Fugaku replied. If he sat, he would be conceding the position of power to the Hokage, which was the last thing he wanted in the current situation. “What is going on here?”  
  
“Last night,” the Hokage began, sorting through a stack of papers on the desk, “an unknown Uchiha boy was apprehended breaking into the most secure section of the library. After some tests, it was discovered that he is the child of you and the late Mikoto. However, medical records state that your only other child was stillborn, sixteen years ago. Can you shed any light on this situation?”  
  
“That depends,” Fugaku answered warily. “What are you insinuating?”  
  
“Deliberately disposing of a child is a very serious offense; the clans agreed to cease the practice with the advent of the First Hokage, but it seems that perhaps not all have complied. Do you have any other explanation to offer?”  
  
“I do not need to answer to you in private clan affairs,” Fugaku retorted. “Is the child here?”  
  
“We’ll come to that in a moment,” the Hokage said. “The council has decided that as the boy is an Uchiha, he will be your responsibility. However, they can be overruled if necessary, and if there is the least hint that being in the Uchiha compound endangers the boy, I will take action to the fullest extent possible under my authority. Is that understood?”  
  
Fugaku took a few seconds to reduce the Hokage’s statement to its barest essence. It seemed that he would have to care for both his children to the Hokage’s satisfaction or he would very likely find himself with no children in his home at all. “I understand.”  
  
The Hokage looked at him scrutinizingly for a few seconds, then nodded. “Very well then. Kakashi?”  
  
Kakashi nodded curtly, then silently ducked out through another door. Returning a few moments later, he was followed by his former teammate Rin, and someone else...  
  
“Uchiha-san,” Rin said quietly, “this is Sen.”  
  
Fugaku wasn’t sure what he had been expecting in the short time since he had discovered his lost child was alive. Whatever his expectations had been, Sen hardly matched up with them.   
  
At first glance, Fugaku actually thought Sen was a girl. He had been about to accuse the Hokage of trying to put something over on him when he realized that, despite the long hair and graceful movements, this was indeed a boy.   
  
Sen kept his eyes down as Rin ushered him into the office and over to one of the chairs, seeming to take in everything through brief glances from his peripheral vision. Fugaku could barely see any of the boy’s face through the curtain of dark hair; all he could tell was that Sen looked very pale and ill-fed, and much too small for sixteen. The nearly worn out black hakama and haori he wore were too big for him, making him look even smaller.  
  
“Sen,” the Hokage said after a moment, “This is Uchiha Fugaku...your father.”  
  
Sen looked up at Fugaku just briefly, until he caught Fugaku looking back at him and guiltily turned his gaze back to the floor. “Does that mean that he owns me?” he asked quietly, his voice low and husky.  
  
Everyone froze in shock at the question. Fugaku was horrified at the thought that an Uchiha had been made a slave, and Kakashi glared angrily at Fugaku as if this was his fault. Of course it was—partially so, at least—but as clan leader, Fugaku could not admit guilt to anything. In future, he would take pains to ensure that his son had a better life, as much as was in his power. “No,” he replied, struggling to keep the emotion out of his voice. “I don’t own you. No one does, now.”  
  
“But—” Sen actually began to protest at this, and Fugaku cut him off, not wanting to hear any more.  
  
“Let’s go home,” he said. “With your permission, Hokage-dono?”  
  
The Hokage nodded, apparently satisfied for now. “Certainly. This meeting is over.”  
  
Sen flinched as Fugaku reached out to take him by the arm, and Fugaku pulled his hand back, struck by a pang of sorrow and the urge to protect his child.   
  
Rin patted Sen’s shoulder reassuringly, making Fugaku jealous that he didn’t quail away from her. “It’s okay,” she said. “Go with him.”  
  
Fugaku reached out again, and this time Sen allowed himself to be let out of the room and into the hall. Kakashi did not follow them, thankfully. Fugaku had had quite enough of the suspicious Jounin for one day.   
  
Although he was a hurry to get home, Fugaku decided that it might be best if he didn’t take Sen through the more populous parts of Konoha. Not only did he want to spare his son the stares of the populace, but he didn’t need foolish rumours spreading any further than they might have already. He settled for a longer but more quiet route through the warehouse district.  
  
“I’m sorry,” Sen said suddenly, after they had been walking for several minutes. Fugaku almost jumped in surprise, as the boy had been completely silent ever since they had left the Hokage tower.  
  
“What for?” Fugaku asked, curious as to what the boy could be thinking.  
  
“I-I don’t know,” Sen said, ducking his head even further and fidgeting with the threadbare hem of his haori as Fugaku turned to look at him. “But—you’re angry. So...I’m sorry?”  
  
Fugaku sighed. “I’m not angry at you,” he said curtly. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”  
  
“Oh.” Sen sounded confused, as if this thought would have been the last one to occur to him, and Fugaku suddenly wished he hadn’t been off the active duty roster for the past fifteen years. He really wanted to kill something right now. Preferably whoever had treated his son so badly, but he wasn’t picky.  
  
Sen didn’t make another sound for the rest of the walk to the Uchiha compound. It was distinctly unnerving—even his footsteps were completely silent on the dusty road. If he hadn’t been holding on to the boy, Fugaku might even have forgotten he was there, and perhaps that had been the objective.  
  
“Fugaku-sama, welcome back,” the gatekeeper said as Fugaku approached. “But...who is that?” he asked, finally catching sight of Sen, who had been doing a very good job of making himself unnoticeable.  
  
“That is none of your concern,” Fugaku said icily.  
  
“Yes, Fugaku-sama.”  
  
Fugaku walked more slowly as he approached his own house. He knew Sasuke was there, from the bright chakra signature inside, and he wasn’t sure how his son—his other son, he reminded himself—would react to having to share the house, or to the discovery of some of the more unsavory things involved with being the head of a powerful clan.  
  
Sen also hung back, perhaps guessing that he was the cause of Fugaku’s concern, and Fugaku almost had to drag him the last few steps to the door.   
  
“Sasuke!” Fugaku called as he opened the door.  
  
“Coming, Otou-san,” Sasuke called back from the living room, over the sound of the television. “What did the Hokage want you fo—” Sasuke stopped so suddenly that he nearly fell as he came into the entry and caught sight of Sen next to his father. “Otou-san, who is that?”  
  
Fugaku took a deep breath. “Sasuke, this is Sen,” he said as calmly as he could, pushing Sen forward a little. “He’s going to be staying here with us for now—he’s your brother.”


	4. Chapter 3

“H-he’s my what?” Sasuke shouted. Sen flinched, backing nervously towards Fugaku.  
  
“Sen is your older brother,” Fugaku repeated. “Wait in there,” he said to Sen, gesturing towards the open door of the living room. “I need to talk to Sasuke.”  
  
“Yes, Uchiha-sama.” Fugaku winced at the honorific—his own son shouldn’t be addressing him in such a way!—as Sen bowed and walked silently into the living room.  
  
“Otou-san, what’s going on?” Sasuke demanded, as soon as the door closed. “What do you mean—why didn’t you tell me anything about this before?”  
  
Fugaku sighed. Sasuke wasn’t going to like this at all, but he would have to learn about such unpleasant things sooner or later; he was the heir to the Uchiha clan, after all. Difficult choices like Fugaku’s, sixteen years ago, would belong to Sasuke eventually. “Come into my office and I’ll explain,” Fugaku said wearily.  
  
Hopefully Sasuke wouldn’t hate him afterwards.

* * *

Half an hour later, Fugaku wearily leaned back in his chair and put one hand over his eyes. Sasuke had just stormed out, and Fugaku could hear several doors slamming in succession—more than were necessary, in fact—as Sasuke made his way out of the house.  
  
He had expected Sasuke to shout at him, accuse him, to release the inevitable anger somehow. The cold, hard look he had received before Sasuke turned away chilled him more than anything else could have—it was not the sort of look that belonged on the face of a twelve-year-old boy. Fugaku just hoped that Sasuke would be able to work out his anger on the training field, rather than taking it out on his Uchiha playmates or worse, Sen.   
  
He had tried to explain Sen’s former situation—all that he had guessed about it, anyway—but Sasuke seemed determined to view the other boy as an invader. Fugaku couldn’t really blame Sasuke for this. Ever since Mikoto’s sudden death from illness ten years ago, Sasuke had become the only thing Fugaku really cared about, and had been the subject of almost all of his father’s attentions. Of course he would hardly relish any competition, especially not with how protective Fugaku seemed to be of Sen.  
  
Sasuke hadn’t understood that either; he had gone as far as to call Fugaku a hypocrite, actually. “You said yourself that you tried to get rid of—of _him_ —when he was born,” he had said. “Why should you care about him any more now? It would have been better to have left him where he was.”  
  
After that, Fugaku had shouted at Sasuke for the second time that day. Sasuke hadn’t shouted back, but Fugaku almost wished he had. The way things were now, Fugaku found himself wondering how long it would be before Sasuke spoke to him again.  
  
When Fugaku was sure Sasuke was a good distance away, he left the office. The papers that had been blown off the desk when Sasuke slammed the door could wait until later to be sorted out.   
  
As Fugaku opened the door to the living room, he stopped short, glancing quickly around the room. “Sen?” He had expected to find Sen waiting for him on the couch, but the boy wasn’t there.  
  
“Uchiha-sama.”   
  
Fugaku looked over to the shadowy corner where the voice had come from. Sen was kneeling next to a bookcase, completely motionless except for his breathing. _Almost like a piece of furniture,_ Fugaku thought, wondering if Sen had remained like that for the entirety of the time he had been left there.  
  
Sen did not look up as Fugaku approached, and Fugaku had to suppress a feeling of annoyance that, while the face of the infant he had for all intents and purposes thrown away was permanently ingrained in his memory, he still didn’t really know what his older son’s face looked like. He had a sudden urge to physically force the boy to raise his head and face him, but stayed his hand just in time. Sen already seemed to be afraid of him, and Fugaku didn’t need to make that any worse.  
  
Fugaku sighed. He had the boy here, now what was he supposed to do with him? Sen looked perfectly content to remain in the corner for the rest of the day, but Fugaku refused to allow such subservient behaviour from his son to continue. “Don’t worry about Sasuke,” he began, trying to sound comforting. “He just needs some time to get used to you. Come on, I’ll show you around the house.”  
  
Sen obediently followed as Fugaku led him through the expansive house reserved for the leader of the Uchiha clan. He was still as silent as before, and Fugaku’s words as he pointed out the different rooms might have been a foreign language for all that Sen responded. Still, Fugaku pressed on, hoping that Sen would warm up in time.  
  
“...and this is the library,” Fugaku said, opening the door. “It contains all the historical records of the Uchiha clan as well as many ancient and valuable jutsu scrolls, dating back to the time of the founding of the clan, and a large collection of classic literature. Do you know how to read?” he asked, suddenly worried that this might not be the case. Sen did not respond, and Fugaku repeated the question a little louder. “Sen. Do you know how to read?”  
  
Sen started guiltily. “Yes, Uchiha-sama, I know how to read.”  
  
“Good.” So his son had not been left in complete ignorance, at least. “You may read anything that is in there, if you like.” Anything would be better than having Sen sitting like a statue, patiently waiting for someone to give him an order. “And then, through this door,” Fugaku continued, sliding the screen away, “is the garden.”  
  
The breeze from outside pushed Sen’s hair a little away from his face, enough for Fugaku to catch a glimpse of pale, delicate features and the deep lines under Sen’s eyes.  
  
The garden had been Mikoto’s pride and joy, besides Sasuke of course, and Fugaku had done his best to keep it as elegant and colorful since her death as it had been in her lifetime. There was never a week that went by without a bright bouquet of fresh-cut flowers from this garden left at his wife’s grave. It was such a pity that Mikoto had never had a chance to see her first child; she would have done a much better job with the boy than Fugaku was now, that much was certain.  
  
Most of the flowers were in full bloom in the warm spring weather, and the air was heavy with their scent as Fugaku led Sen outside. Still, Sen barely glanced at the bright blossoms, and Fugaku found himself wondering if they meant anything at all to the silent boy.  
  
Sen’s worn clothing looked even more tattered in the bright sunlight—he could even see through to the boy’s pale skin in a few places—and Fugaku determined that the next thing on the agenda would be to find his son something more suitable to wear. Letting the boy keep wearing those rags would be unacceptable. However, the leader of the Uchiha clan dragging an unknown boy into a local shop would spark more rumors than the proverbial stick could be shaken at, which was exactly what Fugaku wanted to avoid. Even the clan council had yet to hear of what had occurred, although Fugaku knew he could not put that off much longer.  
  
Still, Sen was only barely taller than Sasuke was; Sasuke’s clothing would almost certainly fit him. While Sasuke would definitely not be pleased to come back and find the ‘intruder’ wearing his clothes, he had a much larger wardrobe than he needed, and could easily afford to give up a few things.  
  
Fugaku caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye, and turned just in time to see Sen snatch his hand back from one of the rosebushes. “Do you like them?” Fugaku asked.  
  
Sen flinched and took a step back from the flower bed. “A-ano, Uchiha-sama, I’m sorry...” he stammered.  
  
Fugaku shook his head in frustration. “Stop apologizing,” he said, wondering again what exactly was going on in the boy’s head. “There’s nothing wrong with touching the flowers. Here,” Fugaku said, deftly snapping the stem of one of the deep red roses and holding it out to Sen. “Take it,” he added, as Sen seemed reluctant to accept the flower. Sen complied, his thin hands delicately holding the rose as though he was afraid it would shatter if he tightened his grip. One of the sharp thorns pricked a finger, but Sen barely seemed to notice as a spot of blood appeared on his skin.  
  
“Let’s go back inside,” Fugaku said after a few moments. Stopping in the kitchen long enough to put Sen’s rose in a small crystal vase, Fugaku ushered Sen into Sasuke’s bedroom and began sifting through his younger son’s clothing. Most of Sasuke’s clothes would certainly fit Sen, although there were enough things that looked too large to be disturbing.  
  
“Here you go,” Fugaku said once he had found a shirt and pants that met his satisfaction. He handed these to Sen, adding a sweater as an afterthought. Sen took the clothes immediately, but seemed at a loss what to do after that. “Put them on,” Fugaku prompted just as a bell tinkled at the front door. “I’ll be right back.”  
  
“Fugaku-dono,” his visitor greeted as Fugaku opened the door.  
  
“Shisui! How was your last mission?” As Shisui was one of the most talented shinobi to have graced the Uchiha clan for several generations, Fugaku was always glad to see his young relation.  
  
“It went as well as things could have, considering the circumstances,” Shisui replied. “I was just bringing you the report on it, actually,” he said, gesturing with a file he was holding in one hand.  
  
“Ah, thank you. Shisui,” Fugaku said quickly, as Shisui turned to go, “Can you do me a favor?”  
  
“Of course, Fugaku-dono,” Shisui replied, although he sounded a little puzzled.  
  
“Good, come inside.”  
  
Shisui followed Fugaku into the house to where Sen was waiting. “Fugaku-dono, who is s...he?”   
  
“This is Sen. I’ll explain everything later,” Fugaku replied, quickly judging how the new clothes looked on Sen. Now that the bulky hakama and haori no longer hid him, Fugaku could see how thin the boy really was, although there was nothing he could do about that at the moment. “Right now I must confer with the council. Can you look after Sen until I return?”  
  
“Sure...but what are we supposed to do?”  
  
“Whatever you like,” Fugaku replied. He didn’t really care what his son got up to in his absence, he just didn’t want to come back and find Sen sitting in a corner again. “Sen, this is Shisui.”  
  
“Shisui-sama,” Sen murmured.    
  
Fugaku winced at the grovelling honorific, but Shisui only looked even more confused. “Fugaku-dono, what—?”  
  
“It’s a long story,” Fugaku said. “Just keep him occupied until I get back.”  
  
“So...” Fugaku heard Shisui saying as he left the house. “Do you know how to play Go?”


	5. Chapter 4

Sasuke had still not returned to the house when Fugaku arrived back from conferring with the clan council. Things had gone as well as was ever possible on that score; he had been able to mostly assure them that Sen was no danger, and could potentially become a valuable asset in time. Fugaku had hated to play that card, but if it got Sen accepted into the clan he would do what he must.  
  
Sen and Shisui were playing Go on the porch, lit by the rays of the setting sun. Fugaku watched them through the door for a bit before making his presence known, wanting to observe how Sen was doing. They made an odd pair of opponents; Shisui was loud and always in motion, even when sitting as close as he got to still, while Sen was exactly the opposite—silent unless someone spoke to him, and rarely moving except to place a stone.   
  
Shisui was a very good Go player, by amateur standards, but seemed hard pressed in the current game. He was taking a painstakingly long time to move and even had his Sharingan on, to boot. To Fugaku’s surprise, Sen hardly even glanced at the board as he easily countered Shisui’s moves almost automatically.  
  
Deciding he had seen enough, Fugaku opened the door.  
  
“Fugaku-dono,” Shisui said quickly, standing and bowing respectfully.  
  
“Uchiha-sama,” Sen said, bowing deeply from his kneeling position, until his face almost touched the floor.  
  
“Sen, don’t do that,” Fugaku snapped curtly, just before he realized that that might not have been the best decision. It had horrified him to see Sen grovelling like that, and he had reacted before thinking.  
  
“I’m sorry, Uchiha-sama—”  
  
“And stop apologizing for everything!”  
  
Luckily Sen did not begin to apologize for apologizing, although he looked as if he wanted to. Fugaku had enough to deal with already besides things like that. It was frustrating that ‘I’m sorry’ was almost all he had heard from his son so far, and Fugaku decided he would have to work on getting the boy to speak more.  
  
Sasuke had been such a very painfully _normal_ child. Nothing Fugaku had learned about caring for children from his second child seemed to apply to his first, and again he wished he had Mikoto here to advise him.  
  
“Fugaku-dono,” Shisui began tentatively, “can I ask you a few things? I mean, about Sen.”  
  
“Certainly,” Fugaku replied. “Sen,” he said, “wait there for a bit. I need to talk to Shisui, and then I’ll see if there’s something to eat.”  
  
“Yes, Uchiha-sama.”  
  
Fugaku sighed but decided not to correct Sen yet again. “So, what did you want to know?” he asked Shisui, after they were inside. “I’ve already told the council his history, so I’m sure your father can explain to you about that.”  
  
“No, it’s just...I don’t mean any offense, but—is Sen an idiot savant, or something?”  
  
“What—” His first reaction was indignation, and it took several seconds for Fugaku to realize that Shisui was not insulting his son and to recognize the term. “What makes you say that?” he asked, more calmly now.  
  
“First off,” Shisui began, “he said he had never played Go before in his life, but he figured it out almost immediately once I started to explain. And besides, it’s just not natural for someone to be acting like...well, like he does, you know...and then play well enough to let me win every single game except the first one.”  
  
This was a surprise. “He was letting you win?”  
  
Shisui nodded. “Definitely. I’ve played Teaching Go with my uncle Akira a few times; that’s what it was like. He could have beaten me easily if he had wanted to, and he almost did in the second game. In fact, he would have, but then he backed off in the endgame, like he was afraid to win. I don’t mean to pry, but what’s up with him?”  
  
“It’s a long story,” Fugaku replied. “Ask your father; what I’ve told the council can probably shed some light on the issue. I really don’t want to tell it all again today.”  
  
“All right,” Shisui said, seeming to realize that he would learn no more there. “I’ll be off home then. Goodbye, Fugaku-dono.”  
  
“Goodbye. If you see Sasuke on the way, tell him that I want him to come home.” Although Sasuke had a tendency to fly off the handle, he had never stayed away in a sulk this long before, and Fugaku was beginning to worry.  
  
“Right.”  
  
As Shisui left, Fugaku headed back to the porch, puzzling over this newest revelation.   
  
Sen was just putting away the last of the Go stones as Fugaku opened the door. “Uchiha-sama,” he said quickly, stopping what he was doing and bowing as deeply as he dared.  
  
“You don’t have to call me ‘Uchiha-sama’,” Fugaku said, kneeling at the other side of the board. This would be as good a time as any to straighten things out. “I am your father; you should call me ‘Otou-san’.”  
  
“O-otou-sama?” Sen said tentatively, casting Fugaku an apprehensive glance from behind his bangs.  
  
Fugaku sighed. “Well, that’s a start at least. Now,” he continued, “I want you to play me a game.”  
  
Fugaku was not a bad Go player; he had had plenty of practice during long hours of waiting at police headquarters. However, against players of Shisui’s caliber and the like he lost more than he won, except when people tried to butter him up by deliberately losing. He hated that sort of thing, usually; but having his own son doing it just saddened him.  
  
Against Fugaku, Sen played much less confidently than he had against Shisui. He placed the stones timidly, as if he was afraid he would be told he was doing something wrong, and even dropped one or two. Early in the game, Sen made some crucial errors that were clearly deliberate, even to an inexpert player.  
  
Still, it was clear that, even to deliberately lose in the sixth game he had ever played, Sen must be very intelligent. It just seemed to be a matter of getting him to communicate.  
  
“Otou-san!”  
  
The front door slammed, heralding Sasuke’s return. Sen jumped at the loud noise and dropped one of the Go pieces, which skittered across the board and knocked several others out of place.  
  
“That’s all right,” Fugaku said, before Sen could begin apologizing again. “It’s getting too dark to play out here, anyway, and you must be hungry.”  
  
Sen did not reply, not that Fugaku had really been expecting him to, and began sorting and putting away the Go pieces as Sasuke opened the back door.   
  
“Shisui said you wanted me to come back,” Sasuke said, looking over Sen’s head as if he wasn’t there..  
  
“Yes, it’s time for dinner,” Fugaku replied. “You shouldn’t wander off by yourself,” he added as he led Sen inside. “As the heir to the clan, you should be more careful.”  
  
“I wasn’t in any danger,” Sasuke retorted. “It’s not like I left the village.”  
  
“That is irrelevant,” Fugaku snapped. “You and Sen set the table, I’ll see what there is for dinner.” Sen and Sasuke hadn’t even spoken two words to each other; perhaps if he could get them to work together Sasuke would take the chance to get used to Sen’s presence.  
  
It came as a surprise to most people that Uchiha Fugaku could actually cook, but he had learned quickly after Mikoto’s sudden death. Sasuke had been barely three, and Fugaku had been unwilling to give over care of his son to anyone else.   
  
Today he had been too busy to plan ahead, so they would have to make do with a salad and some reheated tonkatsu. Perhaps he could put tomatoes in the salad in an attempt to mollify Sasuke a bit. Fugaku had never understood Sasuke’s liking for the disgusting things—he must have inherited his taste buds from his mother’s side.  
  
“Don’t let Sen do all the work,” he warned as Sasuke came into the kitchen to get the dishes. Sasuke only gave him an oddly confused look as he gathered up what he had come for and went back into the dining room.   
  
As he placed the tonkatsu in the hot oil, Fugaku listened as best he could over the noise to what was going on in the dining room. However, Sasuke didn’t say anything for quite some time, and Sen was too soft-spoken for Fugaku to hear him through the door.  
  
“Hey, what is _with_ you?”  
  
“S-sasuke-sama—”  
  
“Don’t   _do_ that—”  
  
Fugaku frowned at the raised voices—or rather, Sasuke’s was raised, Sen’s was just at a normal level—but couldn’t leave the kitchen without burning the food, so he stayed where he was. When he heard something ceramic hit the floor and shatter, however, he moved the pan off the burner and hurried into the dining room, hoping that neither of the boys were hurt.  
  
Sen and Sasuke were standing frozen in the dining room, surrounded by the remnants of a shattered plate. As they were only wearing tabi, they couldn’t really move without risking cutting their feet on the razor-sharp fragments. Sen was carrying the other two plates and looking like he would run out of the room if Sasuke or Fugaku took their eyes off him for a moment.  
  
“What happened?” Fugaku asked.  
  
“I was trying to get him not to do everything like you said,” Sasuke snapped, “but he wouldn’t give the stupid plate back!”  
  
“Don’t shout,” Fugaku ordered, as Sen began to look even more panicky. “Sen, are you all right?”  
  
“A-ano, Uchiha-sama, I—” Sen took a nervous step back and promptly yelped in pain as one of the shards of porcelain stabbed his foot. Fugaku managed to reach him and grab the rest of the plates before he could drop them and possibly make things worse.  
  
“Don’t move,” Fugaku said before Sen could injure himself any further. “Sasuke, take these,” he added, handing Sasuke the plates. “Here, I’ll fix that up.” Before Sen could protest, Fugaku had picked him up—he felt disturbingly light—and turned to carry him to the laundry room where the first-aid supplies were.  
  
“Hey, what about me?” Sasuke demanded, still trapped between the rest of the shattered plate and the wall.  
  
“Oh...just move the table into the living room for now and set it again,” Fugaku said. “We don’t have the time to get all the pieces out of the tatami right now. I’ll finish dinner as soon as Sen’s all right.”  
  
“But—”  
  
Fugaku didn’t listen to the rest but hurried to the laundry room. Sen hadn’t moved at all since Fugaku picked him up, which made his tense body very hard to hold. Setting Sen down on a stool in the laundry room, Fugaku got the first-aid kit down from an upper shelf and knelt to bandage Sen’s foot.  
  
“U-uchiha-sama, you shouldn’t,” Sen whispered nervously, turning his head a little so he wasn’t looking at Fugaku.  
  
“Will you stop that?” Fugaku said in frustration. “You’re not our slave, so it would help things enormously around here if you would stop behaving like one!” Too late he realized that an outburst like that would not improve matters, so he tried to explain things further. “Look, you belong here now as part of the family. You don’t have to act like someone’s going to hit you every time they look at you.”  
  
Sen nodded silently and Fugaku sighed. He had been hoping for a verbal answer, at least, so he could be sure that he had actually gotten through to his son. “There, can you walk on that?” Fugaku asked, tearing off the bandage and taping the end in place.  
  
“Yes, Uchiha-sama,” Sen replied after tentatively placing his foot on the floor.  
  
“Otou-san,” Fugaku prompted gently.  
  
“Otou-sama.”  
  
“Sen—well, I won’t argue with you. Come on, let’s eat.”


	6. Chapter 5

Dinner was an uncomfortable affair. Sasuke was sulking over Fugaku forgetting him in favor of Sen, and refused to respond to Fugaku’s attempts to engage him in conversation. He didn’t even remark on the tomatoes in the salad. Sen was little better, barely picking at his food.  
  
Sasuke ate quickly and retreated to his room, leaving Fugaku and Sen together again. Predictably, this only served to make Sen even more nervous. To make things worse, Fugaku suddenly realized that he hadn’t given the least thought to where Sen was going to spend the night.  
  
There were precious few options, unfortunately—the two spare bedrooms had been turned into storage long ago, as Fugaku had never quite got the hang of keeping the house as organized as Mikoto had. Besides that, Fugaku didn’t like the idea of leaving Sen by himself through the night.  
  
Sasuke was going to _hate_ this.  
  
“Do you know any ninjutsu?” Fugaku asked, more to delay telling Sasuke about the new sleeping arrangements than because he actually wanted to know.  
  
Sen shrugged, pushing a cherry tomato around with his chopsticks. “Only the indispensable ones, Otou-sama,” he replied.  
  
That would be the first ninjutsu everyone learned in the Academy; shunshin, kawarimi, henge and basic clone jutsu. If Sen had never been taught anything else in the way of ninjutsu, that likely meant that his ‘master’ had only intended him to be a stealth operative or assassin, not engaging in intensive fights. This was understandable; if Sen had been widely seen word about the eyes would have eventually filtered back to Konoha. Sen’s master would have had no way of knowing that the Uchiha didn’t want him back.  
  
“Would you like to learn?” Fugaku continued, encouraged that he had actually managed to get a full sentence out of Sen that didn’t include an apology.  
  
“Does that matter?” Sen replied, sounding confused and a little nervous.  
  
Fugaku quickly thought about what he had just said. “It’s not a trick question,” he said, trying to reassure his son. “Do you want to learn?”  
  
Sen froze, his chopsticks still holding the tomato. “Otou-sama...I...I don’t know...”  
  
“You aren’t very used to making decisions, are you?”  
  
Sen shook his head. “I’m not allowed.”  
  
Fugaku was again struck by the intense desire to hunt Sen’s former master down and kill him slowly, painfully, and creatively. No wonder the boy was so withdrawn if he hadn’t even been permitted to think for himself!  
  
“You’re allowed now,” Fugaku said after he was calm enough to speak.  
  
“But—”  
  
It was quite disconcerting how Sen protested at being offered more freedom; perhaps it was just that he didn’t know what  to do with it, Fugaku decided. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since Sen’s entire life had changed completely, and he was probably still recovering from the shock.  
  
“You don’t have to decide yet,” Fugaku said reassuringly. “But there are certain jutsu you should know, as a member of the Uchiha clan. I can teach you one of those tomorrow, and then you can decide whether you like it or not.” Clan council or no, Fugaku would not force his son to remain a ninja if he wished otherwise.  
  
“Yes, Otou-sama.”  
  
Deciding that  pushing Sen to talk anymore that night would be overdoing things a bit, Fugaku left it at that. “Don’t worry about the table,” he said, standing up. “Go wash up or something, I have to talk to Sa—your brother about a few things.”

* * *

Sasuke was lying on the floor of his room playing with one of those little electronic game things that seemed to be so popular nowadays. Fugaku didn’t care for them—he thought it was better for children to play with each other outside—but this one had been a birthday present from Shisui, so he had allowed Sasuke to keep it. As Fugaku entered the bedroom, Sasuke didn’t even look up from the tiny screen.  
  
“Sasuke,” Fugaku said.  
  
“What is it now?” Sasuke asked, still busily pushing buttons. A triumphant little chime heralded a virtual victory and he looked up. “Does Sen need more clothes or something? I liked that sweater he’s wearing now, you know.”  
  
Fugaku considered pointing out that Sasuke scarcely ever wore it, if that was the case, but knew better than to start an argument. “Sen’s going to be sleeping in here tonight.”  
  
“What?” Sasuke shouted, scrambling to his feet. “But—but then where am I supposed to sleep? On the couch?”  
  
“No, you’re going to share this room. There’s plenty of room for another futon.”  
  
“But—he’s—fine then,” Sasuke huffed, as it was clear he wasn’t going to get anywhere protesting. “Just as long as he keeps away from my stuff.”  
  
“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Fugaku said, turning to leave. “Just...please at least try to be nice to him, Sasuke. He is your brother, after all.”  
  
Sasuke pretended not to hear, and Fugaku soon gave up waiting for an answer and went to fetch Sen as Sasuke started back on his game again. Hopefully Sasuke would come around sooner rather than later; Fugaku wasn’t sure how much more he could take of this. Perhaps he had been too indulgent with his younger son, but what else was he to have done? Sasuke had been the only family Fugaku had left after Mikoto’s death.

* * *

Sen looked around in some confusion at the room his new master (who insisted that he was not his master, but of course he was because why else would he care what happened to Sen?) had told him he would be staying in. It was a very nice room, and he was almost afraid to move in it for fear he would touch the wrong thing and anger Uchiha-sama.   
  
This whole place was very strange; it was almost as if no one realized what Sen was. He just hoped they would figure it out soon because he was nothing if they didn’t give him anything to do, and of course he couldn’t possibly talk out of turn and tell them so. Kakashi-sama had understood this, so perhaps Uchiha-sama would eventually.  
  
“You’ll be sharing this room with Sasuke,” Uchiha-sama said.  
  
This Sen could understand; Sasuke-sama would be giving him orders now. “Sasuke-sama,” he said respectfully, bowing as deeply as he dared and hoping Uchiha-sama would be satisfied.  
  
Sasuke-sama didn’t look up. What had Sen done to anger him? What was he supposed to do now?  
  
“Sasuke...” Uchiha-sama said in a warning tone. Why was he angry at Sasuke-sama? Sen had been the one to do something wrong, hadn’t he?  
  
“Fine,” Sasuke-sama said. “Just don’t touch any of my stuff, okay?”  
  
Sen glanced quickly around the room. There was a lot of ‘stuff’ in it, and this was Sasuke-sama’s room, so that apparently meant that he wasn’t supposed to touch anything. There was enough room for Sen to sit, and that was plenty anyway.  
  
Sen flinched as Uchiha-sama patted him on the shoulder, only relaxing again when the man took his hand away. “Sorry about this,” Uchiha-sama said. “I’m sure it will all work out eventually.”  
  
Why was Uchiha-sama the one apologizing? He shouldn’t be, Sen didn’t deserve it. What was wrong with this place?  
  
Uchiha-sama left, and as Sasuke-sama did not seem to require anything for the moment, Sen settled himself in the corner so as not to bother him. Was Sasuke-sama perhaps not used to having servants?  
  
Sasuke-sama showed no interest in telling Sen to do anything for some time. Finally, he put the little device aside and stood up. On the way over to the closet, he glanced over to where Sen was sitting, jumped in surprise and nearly fell. “You’re still here?” he gasped.  
  
“Yes, Sasuke-sama.”  
  
“You don’t have to call me ‘-sama’, you know,” Sasuke said, beginning to rummage through his dresser. “It’s really weird, especially if you actually are my brother or something.” Sen couldn’t hear all of what Sasuke said after that, but it was something about ‘stupid fangirls at the Academy.’ “I suppose I’ve got to give you some of my pajamas as well,” Sasuke-sama added after a little while.  
  
“N-no, Sasuke-sama,” Sen replied quickly, suddenly remembering that the clothes he was wearing now belonged to Sasuke. Sasuke had said not to touch his things, so would he want the clothes back?  
  
“Okay then, that’s good,” Sasuke said in satisfaction, and Sen was relieved that he said nothing about the clothes. “Otou-san still can’t manage to work this new washing machine right and I was away on a mission so it’s all piled up...You don’t talk very much, do you?” he continued, as Sen did not reply.  
  
“No, Sasuke-sama.”  
  
Sasuke-sama sighed as he tossed the pajamas onto a chair. “...freak.”  
  
“Yes, Sasuke-sama.”  
  
“Well, you don’t have to _agree_ with me!” Sasuke snapped.  
  
“But—” Sen had only been doing what Master-sama had always expected, but Sasuke didn’t like it so what was he to do now?  
  
“Just forget it, okay?” Sasuke said, starting to change into the pajamas. “The bedding’s in the cupboard right across the hall.”  
  
“Yes, Sasuke-sama,” Sen said eagerly, starting to stand, but Sasuke motioned for him to stop.  
  
“Never mind, I’ll get everything,” he said, and Sen knelt again in confusion. “If Otou-san thinks I’m making you do anything he’ll get mad at me again.”  
  
When Sasuke returned, however, he did not object to Sen spreading the futons out and laying the bedding on top, and actually seemed to be pleased at the job Sen did.  
  
“That’s that, then,” he said when Sen had finished. “Good night.”  
  
Sen tentatively patted the soft coverlet atop the second futon as Sasuke prepared to sleep. He had never had a futon to sleep on before—they weren’t actually going to let him sleep here, were they? It just wasn’t right, but Sasuke didn’t shout at him or tell him to get out, so he cautiously slipped between the covers.

* * *

Fugaku awoke with a start from a dream of red eyes and a genjutsu of nebulous images created by an infant mind. It had been a long time since he had dreamed about that, he thought as he glanced over to the clock. To his relief, it was already morning. He only rarely had been able to get back to sleep after one of those dreams—his occasional insomnia had been difficult to explain to Mikoto, as he didn’t dare to tell her what he had done. She had been a good wife for a clan leader, very understanding of the necessities of the position, but even she would never have forgiven him for what he had done to Sen.  
  
Masking his chakra carefully so as not to disturb them, he crept down the hall and silently slid the door to Sasuke’s room open. Both boys were still asleep, and it eased the guilt from the nightmare somewhat to see his two children sleeping safely and peacefully in the same room.  
  
Sasuke, as always, had managed to bundle himself so thoroughly in his blanket that only his closed eyes and the tip of his nose could be seen, along with a few unruly locks that had also escaped.  
  
Sen, on the other hand, was curled up tightly between the blanket and the mattress, as if he was trying to touch them as little as possible. His hair had fallen back during the night, and Fugaku thoughtfully studied his son’s face as he leaned against the doorframe.  
  
Sen had clearly inherited Mikoto’s delicate jawline, although Fugaku liked to think that perhaps he more resembled him around the eyes. The boy’s unnatural pallor could be better attributed to a lack of sunlight rather than genetics, however, and his pinched cheeks and small stature made him look younger than his actual age.  
  
Closing the door as quietly as he had opened it, Fugaku returned to his office. Ordinarily Sasuke would have been up before dawn to train, but there was no harm in letting his children sleep a while longer.


	7. Chapter 6

As he didn’t want to wake the boys by working around the house, Fugaku left to take a walk around the compound. It was a relaxing habit, and helped him to keep tabs on any problems that the clan members were having.

****

The River Gate was open, which was unusual at this time of year. It was usually kept closed in the spring, due to flooding which made the river dangerous for any children who might wander out. Curious and a bit apprehensive, Fugaku headed over to see what was going on.

****

Shisui’s father was among the shinobi near the gate, and turned as he noticed Fugaku coming. “Fugaku-dono,” he greeted. “How is the new addition to the family getting along?” he added more quietly as Fugaku reached the gathering.

****

“Getting used to things,” Fugaku replied, not wanting to reveal too much. None of the other clan members had seen Sen since Fugaku’s revelation of his identity, and he wanted to shelter the boy for a little while longer. “What’s going on here, Kaito-san?”

****

Kaito shrugged. “We’re not sure exactly. Tamiko-san reported a strange chakra signature outside the gate a few hours ago, so we’re having a look round. You know Tamiko-san, though, she called us in once when a raccoon knocked over her garbage bin.”

****

Fugaku nodded. “She does tend to overreact a bit, but that is understandable with six young children and her husband constantly away on missions.”

****

“True. Anyway, we don’t really expect to find anything; it was probably just an ANBU passing by who got a bit careless with his chakra masking.”

****

“Probably,” Fugaku agreed, but he couldn’t help worrying just a little as he continued his rounds.

****

There was little else going on in the compound besides the usual few broken windows and torn wall panels that usually came with children training as ninjas. Luckily no one had been hurt today, and Fugaku took the time to point a few homeowners to the clan treasurer, who could cover the cost of repairs.

****

It was almost prime cherry blossom viewing season, and Fugaku paused to sit under a stand of trees that had bloomed early before heading home. A few petals drifted down around him as he reminisced about courting Mikoto among veritable clouds of cherry blossoms. She had always loved them, but Fugaku’s attempts to get a cherry tree to grow in front of his own house after her death had been unsuccessful.

****

Sometimes he would take Sasuke to the grove of cherry trees that had been Mikoto’s favorite, but Sasuke had never been especially interested in something as simple as sitting still and enjoying the flowers. Sen would probably like it, though, if Fugaku could only get him to look at them.

****

Reminded of who he had left unsupervised at home, Fugaku cast about for the pair of chakra signatures in Sasuke’s bedroom—and promptly scrambled to his feet, little caring for how undignified he looked, and bolted for the house as he felt the surge of heat and power and fear.

****

He felt that it took him far too long to reach the house, even though it couldn’t have been more than two minutes. Nothing looked out of the ordinary as he approached the house, but he could hear scuffling coming from the bedroom.

****

Sasuke was terribly overprotective of some of his things, Fugaku thought as he slammed the front door open and rushed through the halls, but surely this was uncalled for?

****

As he shoved the door of Sasuke’s bedroom open, Fugaku stopped short as he saw what the situation actually was. Sasuke was lying on the floor, his eyes unnaturally wide and breath coming in short gasps. Sen was pinning him down with a knee on his chest and had one hand around his throat.

****

Fugaku stood frozen in the doorway, wondering what exactly had happened to trigger this and trying to think of how to defuse the situation without either boy being harmed.

****

Suddenly realizing that Fugaku was there, Sen cringed, looking up fearfully, and Fugaku staggered as the Mangekyou hit with burning images of a bleeding world. He felt Sen shove past him and flee out of the house, but could do nothing about it as the genjutsu slowly dissipated.

****

Fugaku couldn’t understand what had happened. Sen had seemed afraid to even look at them before, and Fugaku had trouble thinking of how Sasuke could have effected such a change in him. Still, if anything Sen’s master must have trained him to kill, and perhaps it had just taken pressing the right buttons.

****

He considered running after the boy, but Sen had looked absolutely terrified when Fugaku burst in on them and he didn’t want to ruin everything he had done to gain Sen’s trust so far. Besides, Sasuke appeared to be more in need of him at the moment. Sen probably wouldn’t get very far without attracting the attention of the Uchiha police and getting picked up, anyway.

****

Waving his hand appraisingly in front of Sasuke’s eyes, Fugaku was relieved to see him blink in response. “Are you all right?” he asked quickly. “What happened?”

****

“‘m fine,” Sasuke replied as Fugaku helped him sit up. “I don’t know what happened, I was just behind him, and I guess I must have done something, but I don’t really remember...my head hurts.”

****

“Come into the kitchen, I’ll get you an ice pack,” Fugaku said, half-supporting Sasuke as the boy got to his feet. “You probably hit your head when you fell.”

* * *

 

“You know, Sasuke,” Fugaku said a few minutes later as he handed Sasuke the ice, “I did tell you to be nice to him.”

****

“Yeah, sure,” Sasuke snorted, “But you didn’t say he’d snap and try to _kill_ me!”

****

“Fair enough,” Fugaku conceded. “I shouldn’t have left the house. I’m sorry.”

****

Sasuke didn’t respond as he carefully held the ice pack to the back of his head. “You know,” he said after a few moments, “I think he showed me where he was.”

****

Fugaku frowned. “What do you mean?”

****

“Where he was living before he came here,” Sasuke clarified. “There wasn’t much—I don’t think he’d been meaning to put me in genjutsu, I’ve seen what Kakashi can do in training, and it was a lot different. It was just...I couldn’t break it,” he said, shivering a little. “And it was cold. It might have been in a cave or a stone building, but I couldn’t really tell.”

****

“Was there anything else?” Fugaku asked, trying not to sound too eager.

****

Sasuke shook his head, wincing a little as this made the pain worse. “Not really. There were two people; he was afraid of them, one more than the other. They were always in shadow, so I couldn’t see anything more than that...That’s all.”

****

“I see...” Fugaku said musingly, beginning to pace up and down the kitchen.

****

“Ne, Otou-san?”

****

“What is it, Sasuke?”

****

“If—” Sasuke took a deep breath before continuing. “If it was—If you—If it had been me back then, instead of Sen, would you have still done...what you did?” he said in a rush.

****

Fugaku sighed. Sasuke’s dark eyes begged for reassurance, but Fugaku could not bring himself to lie. “Yes,” he said quietly, reaching out to pat Sasuke on the shoulder. “I would have. I’m sorry.”

****

Sasuke ducked away from his father’s hand, throwing the ice pack in the sink as he stalked out.

****

Sinking down in the chair Sasuke had vacated, Fugaku rested his face in his hands with a weary groan. Where had he gone wrong?

****

* * *

 

It was more than an hour before Fugaku could bring himself to go after Sen. He knew that Sen was still afraid of him and most likely believed he would be severely punished for his actions, so Fugaku was worried that it would only make things worse if he chased Sen down in the heat of the moment.

****

He wasn’t afraid of his own son, Fugaku told himself firmly. He was almost convinced.

****

Finally, he left the house and began to trail Sen’s thin, tremulous chakra signature. It lead rather haphazardly through the compound—Sen had clearly been running blindly and not paying attention to where he was going—then suddenly ran much more straightforwardly to Shisui’s house.

****

Puzzled, Fugaku tapped on the door, which was promptly answered by Shisui. “Fugaku-dono,” he said. “You’re looking for Sen, right?”

****

“Yes,” Fugaku replied in relief. “Is he all right? Where is he? Did he tell you anything?”

****

“He’s...okay physically, I guess,” Shisui said, although he sounded doubtful. “He seemed pretty hysterical though—from what I could get him to say he thought you were going to kill him for something he did wrong. It was something about Sasuke...what happened, exactly?”

****

“Sasuke surprised him and Sen defended himself,” Fugaku replied quickly. “Other than that I don’t know, I wasn’t there. Where is he?” he repeated.

****

Shisui frowned. “I don’t mean any disrespect, Fugaku-dono, but I’m not sure I should tell you...”

****

“I can assure you that I have absolutely no intentions of harming him,” Fugaku snapped in exasperation. “I just want to make sure he’s all right. Now, where is he?”

****

“He isn’t here,” Shisui replied.

****

“What—”

****

“I told you he was frantic when I found him, so I thought he might calm down if I got him out of the compound. Obito took him to Kakashi’s place a little while ago.”

****

It seemed things just kept getting worse this morning. Not only did his children end up fighting each other, but now he was going to have to retrieve one of them from someone who very nearly hated him. Hopefully he could make it there and explain things before Kakashi could report to the Hokage—if not, he would have a great deal more than a runaway child on his hands. One big scandal was really all that Danzou needed...

****

* * *

 

Kakashi frowned as his doorbell rang. He recognized the chakra signature on the other side, and glanced worriedly at his little guest room—closet, really—where Sen had been huddled ever since Obito had brought him over.

****

On the one hand, he thought Sen was stressed enough as it was and anything more could cause him to snap again, but on the other hand he really wanted to see how Fugaku would try to explain this.

****

Making his decision, Kakashi opened the door, and almost immediately had to bar the way to prevent Fugaku from shoving past him into the apartment. “Uchiha-san,” he drawled. Perhaps it was petty, but he enjoyed getting a rise out of the clan leader under any circumstances. Some of the Uchiha were all right—Sasuke was a good kid at heart, if a bit of a brat—but Kakashi knew about the lies, intrigue and violence that the clan had been founded and was still based on. “What are you doing here?” Kakashi asked.

****

“You know what I’m here for,” Fugaku retorted curtly. “Where is Sen?”

****

“And what are you going to do if I tell you?” Kakashi demanded.

****

“Nothing—it was a misunderstanding!” Fugaku protested.

****

“A misunderstanding?” Kakashi repeated accusingly. “He thinks you’re going to kill him!”

****

“Look, just let me see him,” Fugaku said, a commanding tone in his voice.

****

Kakashi would have none of that, and he could be firm too. “You can see him when the Hokage says you can.” He made to close the door, but Fugaku managed to keep it from shutting and pushed his way inside the rest of the way. “Uchiha-san...” Kakashi said warningly, taking a step further back into the living room.

****

“At least let me speak to him before you go to the Hokage,” Fugaku said.

****

Puzzlingly, Kakashi thought he detected a note of worry in the other man’s voice—probably he was just afraid of what would happen to the reputation of his precious clan if word of this got out.

****

The two men glared at each other for a while, neither wanting to back down. “Fine then,” Kakashi said finally, mostly to get Fugaku to go away so that he could make his report. “He’s in there,” he added, motioning towards the door of the guest room.

****

Fugaku barely nodded before brushing past him, and Kakashi winced in anticipation. To his surprise, Fugaku did not burst into the tiny room, instead softly opening the door and shutting it behind him as he stepped inside.

****

* * *

 

Fugaku sighed, leaning briefly against the door of the little room before finding the light switch and flicking it on. Sen was curled up in the farthest corner of the room, which wasn’t very far, tightly holding his knees to his chest.

****

Fugaku barely had time to register this before Sen had flung himself at his feet, babbling mostly incoherent apologies. If it hadn’t been for the door behind him, Fugaku would have taken a step back. This was nothing he had ever had any experience in dealing with.

****

“Sen, stop this,” he said. Sen fell silent immediately but remained kneeling with his head down, and Fugaku noted with worry that he was hyperventilating. Kneeling so that he was on the same level as Sen, Fugaku gently placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Sen,” he said quietly.

****

“Uchiha-sama, I’m sorry, I—” Sen began again, but Fugaku didn’t let him finish.

****

“Sen, don’t, please, it’s fine. Here,” he said, gently pulling Sen to his feet and guiding him over to the daybed so that he could sit next to him.

****

“Uchiha-sama...” Sen murmured. His voice was choked with tears, and Fugaku embraced him tightly, giving up on restraint. Sen tensed stiffly before relaxing as Fugaku ran a hand through his hair.

****

“It’s all right,” Fugaku said after a few minutes. “Of course I don’t want my children to fight, but I doubt it was your fault, and Sasuke’s fine, anyway.”

****

“But I—” Sen began to protest again, and Fugaku cut him off.

****

“No, listen to me, Sen...no, Itachi.”

****

“W-what?”

****

Fugaku smiled sadly. Mikoto had refused to let their first child go without a name, even if she believed that he had not lived long enough to hear it spoken. “Your true name is Uchiha Itachi. You are _my son_ and you have _nothing_ to be afraid of. Do you understand?”

****

“Yes...Otou-s-san?”

****

Fugaku was sure that he was beaming in a very unbecoming manner for the leader of a powerful clan, but he didn’t care at the moment. Sen smiled back cautiously, and Fugaku brushed his bangs away so that he could see his face better. “Let’s go home, Itachi. I promised I would teach you today, didn’t I?”

****

Luckily for Kakashi, he did not bar the way when Fugaku and Itachi left—Fugaku would let nothing get between him and his son again.

****

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fugaku and Sasuke were not as permanently ingrained as ‘no touchie’ to Itachi as his master was, so I don’t think it’s inconsistent that he would eventually lash out as things get more and more difficult for him to cope with. Oh, and also: Itachi’s master is not an OC. Feel free to speculate...


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, I remembered I had an account on here! I'm sorry for neglecting this for so long...

Instead of returning to the compound, Fugaku took Itachi to the artificial lake which the Uchiha used for training fire jutsu. Itachi hadn't said anything since they had left Kakashi's apartment, but Fugaku did think that his son seemed much more at ease now. He held his head a little higher, and seemed to be looking directly at things instead of relying on sidelong glances, although he still did not meet Fugaku's eyes, which was understandable considering what he could do if he did.

Hopefully Kakashi would decide not to report this incident the the Hokage after all; the Jounin could cause a great deal of trouble for the clan now if he wanted to, and Fugaku knew that he certainly had wanted to in the past. It was largely thanks to Kakashi that some of the old rumors about the Uchiha planning a coup had been brought back to light, although Fugaku had been able to prove that, if indeed that had ever been considered, it had been far before his installment as head of the clan. Due to various factors, the truth was that the Uchiha no longer had enough influence in the village to successfully pull something like that off. That didn't stop the older members of the clan council, those who remembered the Uchiha's glory days, from bringing it up at private meetings over the pettiest things, but even they didn't really mean it seriously anymore.

Sasuke had preceded them to the lake, to Fugaku's surprise. He was sitting out on the end of the dock that jutted over the water, staring down at the delicate ripples stirred up by the wind and occasionally kicking at the surface of the lake.

Itachi paused as he noticed Sasuke's presence, beginning to nervously back towards the road again. "It's fine," Fugaku said calmly, although he couldn't help being a little apprehensive as Itachi obediently followed him to the end of the dock. Since he had not expected to run into Sasuke, he had given no consideration to what Sasuke's reaction might be to Itachi after what had happened that morning. Although Sasuke had been unhurt by the experience, he had undergone a significant mental shock and Fugaku worried that it might have increased his resentment of his brother.

Therefore, Fugaku was completely bewildered when Sasuke not only did not ignore or insult Itachi, but actually turned with a smile and a small wave as he noticed them coming. "Hello, Otou-san...Sen..."

Fugaku did not fail to notice how Itachi discreetly shifted so that he was on the other side of Fugaku from Sasuke as they reached the end of the dock. "I was going to teach Itachi the  _katon_ ," he explained, hoping that Sasuke wouldn't take this as a further imposition on his status.

Sasuke seemed to take this in stride, thankfully, although he frowned a little when he caught the new name. "Itachi?"

"That's your brother's real name," Fugaku said. "Now, Itachi, these are the seals for the  _katon_..."

Nearly an hour later, Itachi was still unsuccessful in producing even the slightest flame, although Fugaku could detect no errors in either the seals or his chakra manipulation. However, there seemed to be very little chakra going into the the technique, perfect control aside. It should have been enough to accomplish something, but this was Itachi's first higher-level jutsu, so a steeper learning curve was to be expected.

Despite Fugaku's repeated assurances that he was doing fine, the continued failure was making Itachi nervous and Fugaku could tell that he was losing his concentration. Sasuke was also still there, which likely wasn't helping, although Fugaku wasn't about to tell him to leave.

"Try again," Fugaku said, activating the Sharingan so that he could better observe. He knew Itachi had a considerable reserve of chakra, more than enough for the technique, but there seemed to be a sizeable discrepancy between what he had and what he could utilize at any given time.

Itachi formed the seals and tried again. Predictably, he failed, but Fugaku had seen enough to figure out what the problem most likely was. "Okay, now try," he said, stepping behind Itachi and putting his hands over his eyes.

Although Itachi tensed momentarily at the contact, he tried again, this time producing a small jet of flame, to Fugaku's immense gratification. "You did it!" he cried. Itachi's Mangekyou had been creating such a tremendous drain on his remaining chakra that he had been unable to utilize enough for the technique until Fugaku blocked his vision, freeing up the amount of chakra necessary to make the difference.

Itachi smiled, delighted at the praise, and even Sasuke looked pleased.

Fugaku was becoming more and more bewildered at Sasuke's behaviour. He had thought that the fight with Itachi would have made their relationship worse, instead of better, but rather Sasuke seemed to be beginning to accept Itachi. Fugaku had a feeling that Sasuke had seen more of Itachi's former life in the genjutsu than he had let on, but if Sasuke had thought it best not to tell him everything, there was no need for him to pry.

"Come on, let's go home," he said. "That's enough for one day."

Putting one arm affectionately around Itachi's shoulders, Fugaku did the same with Sasuke as the younger boy fell into step with them. They were beginning to become a real family, he thought with pleasure. The only thing that could have made this better would have been if Mikoto had been able to see. But then perhaps she could, from somewhere.

Fugaku hoped that she would approve.

* * *

 

"All that and you still haven't reported to the Hokage? Who are you and what have you done with Kakashi?"

"That's very funny, Obito," Kakashi retorted in a monotone. "Once he took the kid away with him it would have been my word against his, and it wasn't like I could have started a fight with him with Itachi in the room."

"I thought he told us that his name was Sen," Rin said, sitting down at the table with a tray of food. For once Rin and Obito had been on break from hospital and police duty, respectively, at the same time, and Kakashi had agreed to get together with them at the hospital cafeteria. As much of the Konoha hospital staff was made up of volunteers, the cafeteria had surprisingly good food, partially in an effort to keep it in their good graces.

Kakashi shrugged, stabbing frustratedly at his rice. "Fugaku said that his 'real name' was Itachi," he explained. "Don't worry, I'm going to go straight to the Hokage if I see anything else. I just hope I'm not too late, though..."

"Kakashi," Obito interrupted, "Are you sure you're not overreacting a bit?"

"You're defending Uchiha Fugaku?" Kakashi said incredulously, stopping with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. "You were nearly thrown out of the clan because of him!"

"No, I was nearly thrown out of the clan because of the _council_ ," Obito clarified. "I mean, Fugaku didn't exactly defend me, but it's not like he can constantly undermine the clan council."

"Exactly," Kakashi said. "Which clearly means that he supports their views."

"Honestly, Kakashi, you are such a conspiracy theorist," Rin murmured into her coffee cup.

"I am not!" Kakashi protested. "It's been proven that the Uchiha had plans to take over the village!"

"Yeah, more than thirty years ago," Obito pointed out. "Come on, they don't even bluff about it anymore. And you are so a conspiracy theorist. Remember the time you tried to convince Minato-sensei that the Land of Fire was being attacked by aliens from Ganymede?"

"Cut me a little slack, I was twelve!" Kakashi protested, but he knew it was already too late. The floodgates had been opened, and all he could do was try to minimize the damage.

"Oh yeah, I remember that too!" Rin giggled. "There was an all-night sci-fi movie marathon on the night before, wasn't there? And then we got a D-rank mission—"

"Which we were completely too highly ranked for," Kakashi cut in.

"And you claimed that Tora-chan had been possessed by a body-snatching alien and the only way to displace it would be to throw him off the Hokage Mountain!" Obito finished before breaking down in laughter.

"You know, come to think of it, I wish Minato-sensei had let us go through with it," Rin said absently.

"The Fire Lady would have just gotten another cat," Kakashi replied. "She always does. How many has she had by now? Seven, at least."

"I swear she breeds them to be evil," Obito said with a shudder of remembrance. "Imagine, an army of evil cats, besieging the city."

"Now look who's the conspiracy theorist," Rin said with a smile.

"You know, sometimes that's how I tell people I lost the eye," Kakashi said. "That way they quit bothering me to tell 'hero stories'. Although there was that one time I tried that on someone and he followed me around for the rest of the day, trying to get me to tell him how I 'felled the foul beast'. I think he'd been on a few too many animal-retrieval missions as a genin..."

"Stop that, Kakashi, you're making my scars hurt," Obito teased, pretending to wince.

"You mean that one on your pinky finger that nobody could even see then?"

"No, I mean the  _very obvious_  ones on my arm from the first time I was stupid enough to believe that that monster could be subdued without tranquilizer darts."

"You did improve a lot in traps after that," Kakashi pointed out.

"That's irrelevant!"

The cafeteria hushed a little as the P.A. system crackled into life. "Rin-sensei to Room 12, Rin-sensei to Room 12," it said.

"Sorry boys, I've got to go," Rin said, standing and patting Obito affectionately on the head. "Play nice, okay? And Obito, you make sure Kakashi doesn't go chasing after any more aliens."

"Yes ma'am!" Obito said with a stiff salute, and Kakashi rolled his eyes as he watched Rin walk away.

* * *

 

Fugaku paid close attention to what was going on outside the kitchen as he prepared a late breakfast. He had been a little worried about leaving Itachi and Sasuke together again, considering what had happened the last time, but he was close enough to intervene immediately if need be. However, he still wasn't sure what to make of the way Sasuke was acting, and left the kitchen door open so he could keep an eye on things.

"So...Itachi. Are you okay?" Sasuke said finally as he set the plates on the table.

Itachi stared at him in some confusion, taking a step back from the table. It was clear that he wasn't sure what was going on, either.

"You're doing really good," Sasuke continued, undeterred by Itachi's lack of response. "It took me weeks to get the  _katon,_  you know."

Itachi still did not reply. As Sasuke came back into the kitchen to get some glasses and a pitcher of orange juice, Fugaku went back to cutting up onions while trying not to look like he was horribly eager to ask what was going on.

He was distracted enough by the bitter onion fumes that he almost didn't hear what Sasuke said next.

"Um, Itachi, would you like to play with my video games later? I mean, I can teach you..."

Would wonders never cease—Sasuke was trying to make friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may be able to tell that I love Team Minato banter.


	9. Chapter 8

The next couple of weeks went well by any standards. Sasuke continued to spend time with Itachi when he wasn't training with Team 7, and while Fugaku was sure that Itachi would never develop into the chatterbox Sasuke was at times, he was slowly becoming something approaching normal. With Fugaku's continued coaching, Itachi had nearly perfected the katon, and Fugaku had plans to begin teaching him some other techniques soon, if he showed an interest in them.

Fugaku was slightly less pleased with Sasuke's teaching Itachi to play video games, as this had resulted in Sasuke begging for another controller so that they could both play at the same time. He had put the request aside for the moment, but he had a feeling he would end up giving in eventually.

Shisui was dropping in once or twice a day, claiming that he was checking on Itachi but really more to play Go with someone who was really good at it. Neither he nor Sasuke had been able to get him to win against them yet in Go or video games, but it was clear he could and the games were getting closer and closer.

Sasuke had left for an overnight mission the day before, his first since Itachi's arrival. Kakashi had actually come to the compound gate to fetch him, something he had never done before. Fugaku expected that he meant it as a warning to Fugaku that he was keeping an eye on him. Still, Fugaku knew that he had little to worry about on that score; Itachi was obviously improving under his care, even to the most stringent observer.

* * *

 

"Itachi," Fugaku said, opening the door to the library. "Are you in here?"

"Yes, Otou-san," Itachi replied, but Fugaku still had to search to see him. He was sitting against the wall, practically barricaded in with books and scrolls. There was a chair only a few feet away, but Itachi had put a few stacks of books on it instead of sitting there himself.

Fugaku picked his way around piles of books so that he could turn on a floor lamp standing near Itachi. "You should have more light when you're reading," he said mildly. Sasuke's statement that Itachi had been living in a cave before they had recovered him seemed to be supported, as the boy didn't seem to mind being in the dark at all—the Mangekyou probably gave him a high degree of night vision—but Fugaku still worried a little about his eyesight.

Itachi nodded in acknowledgement, then went back to his reading. It was a book on traps and surveillance, Fugaku noted. Some of the other books around him were on various ninjutsu methods, as well as a few volumes of a history of Konoha and a very thick mathematics textbook.

"Itachi," he said, "I need to go to the police headquarters today." This would be the first time Fugaku had left Itachi by himself in the house, not counting the times he and Sasuke had been there alone. "I'll try to not be gone too long, but something could always come up...anyway, don't open the door to anyone except Sasuke or Shisui, all right? And don't stay in here reading the whole time. And if you get hungry, there are some curry buns in the fridge. That should be everything—no, Sasuke should get back in an hour or two. Have you got all that?"

"Yes," Itachi answered.

"Then I'll be going," Fugaku said, deliberately trying not to think of any reasons to stay around. He had been neglecting his police duties for too long since Itachi's arrival. Even though he had been due for a vacation for a long time, he needed to get back to work to straighten things out. "Goodbye, Itachi." He stroked Itachi's hair affectionately, then headed for the door, assuring himself that everything would be fine.

Now that Itachi wasn't afraid to touch anything, he would certainly be able to take care of himself for the short time before Sasuke got back. The only thing Fugaku really needed to worry about was the two of them wasting the rest of the day playing the new game Shisui had lent Sasuke.

"Goodbye, Otou-san," Itachi called as Fugaku left the room.

* * *

 

Bearing in mind Otou-san's injunction, Itachi only remained in the library long enough to finish the chapter, although he very much wanted to keep reading. While Master-sama had taught him to read (he would have been a nearly useless tool otherwise) he had never been permitted near books before, at least not so near that he could touch them. He rather liked it, and it did seem to please these new people when they saw him reading.

It was still confusing that they didn't like it when Itachi tried to serve them, but he was beginning to get used to how strange they were. They didn't seem to think that they were doing anything wrong, so maybe this was just how things were done in this part of the continent.

He had figured out a few things about how it worked; if Sasuke-san was doing chores Itachi could 'help', although Otou-san was never pleased when Itachi did them all by himself. For some equally arbitrary reason, Otou-san liked it when both he and Sasuke-san played with Sasuke-san's video games, although he didn't approve when Sasuke was playing them by himself.

Otou-san also said that Sasuke-san was Itachi's 'brother'. Itachi still didn't understand that, because it would mean that he and Sasuke were equals, and Itachi knew that he could never be equal to anyone. Still, he let Otou-san say what he liked, as he had quickly learned that Otou-san thought this 'brothers' thing was important and didn't like it when Itachi protested.

Memorizing where he had been in the book, Itachi began to replace all the books and scrolls that he had removed from the shelves. Otou-san had nearly tripped when he had come in earlier, and that would never do.

In one corner of the room, near where Itachi had been sitting, a small table covered a trapdoor leading to a vault with some of the more valuable jutsu scrolls. Otou-san had showed him this recently, saying that perhaps he could teach him some of them. Since he wanted to be more useful to Otou-san, Itachi had of course agreed, but nothing had come of that yet. Perhaps Otou-san had decided that Itachi wasn't good enough to teach, but if that was so why had he kept him around?

The last book was put away, now, so Itachi had no further reason to remain in the library. He had just opened the door when he realized that Otou-san had only said not to stay and read in the library, not that he couldn't read at all. If that was so, didn't that mean that he could read outside and still be doing what Otou-san had said?

Itachi quickly returned to retrieve his book, although he looked over his shoulder to make sure that no one was watching first. Otou-san was foolishly lenient sometimes, but Itachi was still careful.

It was warm and bright outside. The sunlight hurt his eyes a bit, so he remained under the porch awning, near one of the planters full of rosebushes. These rosebushes were important to Otou-san, Itachi knew, but he wasn't exactly sure why. It had something to do with someone named 'Mikoto', but Itachi hadn't been able to figure out anything else, although he paid close attention whenever he and Otou-san were in the garden.

Settling himself against the porch railing, Itachi reopened the book to where he had left off. He already knew most of what was in it—he had been well trained in such things—but it had been the first book he had picked up and he felt therefore obligated to finish it.

* * *

 

While there hadn't been any real emergencies during the time Fugaku had taken off, there had been the usual amount of petty crimes and code violations. Nothing especially serious, but enough to generate a great deal of paperwork, which Fugaku naturally felt duty-bound to at least look at. There were also several reports on the missions taken on outside the village by shinobi in the police force, which had to be reported to both the shinobi duty desk and police headquarters.

He was about halfway through the second logbook that had been filled in his absence when the door to the records room opened.

"Kaito-san?" Fugaku said as he recognized the new arrival. "You aren't usually here during the day. Is something wrong back at the compound?"

"No, no, everything's fine," Katio replied quickly. "Shisui wanted to see a report for one of his old missions so I told him I'd get it. There's nothing interesting really going on over there; I just wanted to take the chance to get away for a bit. One of those helping-cats-out-of-trees days, you know."

Fugaku nodded. Sometimes being a police officer could be a whirlwind of life-and-death action and split-second timing, and sometimes it was just hanging about playing Go and Shougi and wishing that the Uzumaki boy would vandalize something just so one would have something to do.

Naruto was usually harmless, and his pranks were always good for a bit of entertainment as long as the police weren't the ones who had to clean up after him. Unfortunately, his activities in this sphere had dropped off almost entirely since he had finally graduated from the Ninja Academy.

Fugaku had been a bit wary when he first heard that Sasuke was going to be on a team with Naruto, even though Sasuke had actually been complaining more about Sakura—who according to him was an obsessive stalker—but there were really only two or three girls in his entire graduating class who didn't think themselves madly in love with the heir to the Uchiha Clan, so he could be forgiven for overreacting a bit. At least he only had to deal with one of them at a time now instead of fifteen or more.

Sasuke didn't know about the Kyuubi, or at least its current residence, so Fugaku had worried a bit about him being so close to the container. Naruto hadn't been dangerous so far, but Fugaku hadn't been in the least certain that he wanted to trust him near his son. That had all changed, of course, after the allegedly C-rank mission to Wave that could have ended so disastrously. Kyuubi jinchuuriki or no, Naruto had saved his son's life and Fugaku would not forget.

Perhaps someday Itachi would be on a Konoha ninja team as well. Fugaku didn't want to push him into that life, but considering how much better he was doing than when he first came, maybe it was time to incorporate him a little further into the clan and the village.


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to continue this story over here. I'm a bit worse at using AO3 than FF, I'm afraid.  
> (And also I kind of forgot about it I'm sorry!)

Back in the compound, it was warm and sunny, with a lazy breeze wafting the scent of the spring flowers to where Itachi was sitting on the porch. Buried in his reading, Itachi soon lost all track of the time. After finishing the book on traps, he started on the first volume of the histories. Those were a little confusing, since they talked about a lot of things he didn’t know much about, but they were very interesting despite all that.

 

Perhaps when Sasuke-san returned from his mission he would be willing to explain some things. Itachi didn’t like asking questions (it seemed very wrong to speak to anyone without being invited first) but Sasuke-san had been very insistent that Itachi ask him things, so he might as well oblige. Sasuke-san had answered all of his questions so far, and it did seem to please him.

 

He still didn’t understand why Sasuke-san hadn’t been angry after what Itachi had done, nor why Otou-san hadn’t punished him for it. Master-sama had gotten rid of other agents for less, but none of the new people had even seemed angry about it. It was really very strange, but nice, he supposed. Itachi didn’t think he would have liked being got rid of very much.

 

He was nearing the end of a chapter on the Second Hokage when a shadow fell across the page. Itachi perked up at once, glad for the company.

 

“Shisui-sa...n?” he started to say as he turned eagerly, then froze in shock as he recognized his visitor.

 

“Hello, brat.”

 

Itachi tossed the book aside and fell to his knees as the newcomer lightly dropped from the railing to stand in front of him.

 

He should have known better than to think he would be allowed to remain here.

 

“You should be grateful that Danna actually wanted you back, un,” the other said. “He could have just had me get rid of you instead of going to all this trouble.”

 

“Ah, y-yes. Thank you, Deidara-sama,” Itachi said quickly, not wanting to anger Deidara-sama and make him change his mind.

 

Deidara-sama didn’t say anything for a moment, but Itachi knew better than to look up. He knew Deidara-sama’s mannerisms fairly well, anyway. He was probably smirking; Deidara-sama did that a lot, but only when he thought Master-sama wouldn’t see.

 

“Come on, brat, get inside,” Deidara-sama finally said, brusquely pulling Itachi to his feet and pushing him towards the sliding door into the house. “I don’t know what Danna was thinking, sending me here in broad daylight like this...” he grumbled. “Not like anyone was looking, un, but still—!”

 

“Yes, Deidara-sama,” Itachi agreed automatically as they entered the house.

 

He almost hoped that perhaps Shisui-san had seen Deidara-sama while he was in the garden, but what good would that do even if he had? Itachi _belonged_ to Master-sama, so of course he would have to go back to him. Otou-san himself had said that he didn’t own Itachi, so Itachi couldn’t stay here now that Master-sama wanted him back.

 

“So, brat,” Deidara-sama said, taking the opportunity to pilfer a plate of green tea mochi from the kitchen, “Where does your father keep the jutsu scrolls?”

 

Itachi himself was one thing, but Otou-san’s possessions were a different matter. “I-I don’t know, Deidara-sama,” he answered, trying to sound convincing.

 

“Really.” Deidara-sama sounded a little disappointed, and Itachi knew what was inevitably coming. “You’re a very bad liar, brat. I don’t see why you even bother, un.”

 

Deidara-sama didn’t hit him very hard this time, for which Itachi was grateful. Deidara-sama never hit as hard as Master-sama did, except when Master-sama was actually present.

 

“Now,” Deidara-sama continued, “So we don’t have to go through all that again, where are the scrolls, un?”

 

Itachi sighed resignedly, hoping Otou-san would not be too angry over the loss. “Otou-san keeps them in the library, Deidara-sama.”

 

“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Deidara-sama said cheerily. “Here, you might as well have one of these, un,” he added, handing Itachi the last mochi from the plate.

 

Itachi took it a little reluctantly. “But Master-sama says—”

 

“Yeah, I know, not a pet dog, doesn’t need treats, whatever,” Deidara-sama interrupted, briskly opening doors along the hall in order to find the library. “But he’s not here, you know.”

 

Itachi shrugged a little doubtfully, but obligingly bit into the mochi as he followed Deidara-sama into the library.

 

“Now,” Deidara-sama said after a little while of ransacking the library (Itachi winced a bit at seeing all the nice books being thrown about so carelessly, but didn’t dare say anything), “Where does he keep the high-level scrolls? And don’t lie this time, I think we’ve figured out by now that you really can’t, un.”

 

Otou-san was going to be furious, Itachi thought, but there wasn’t anything else he could do, so he pushed the table aside and flipped up the tatami mat underneath in order to point out the trap door. It was locked, but Deidara-sama didn’t seem to mind.

 

“Perfect,” Deidara-sama said, reaching down to deposit a small amount of explosives around and in the lock. “Back up a bit, brat,” he added, and Itachi hurried to the other side of the room before Deidara-sama set off the charge with a quick “katsu.”

 

The lock and some of the surrounding trapdoor shattered and fell into the chamber below without harming any of the surrounding books. Deidara-sama was very good at what he did; that was why Master-sama put up with some of his faults.

 

“All right,” Deidara-sama said, scooping several of the scrolls out of the little chamber and shoving them into Itachi’s arms, “Let’s go and—”

 

He was just heading into the hall when someone knocked on the door. Deidara-sama immediately froze, grabbing Itachi’s arm to keep him from going anywhere.

 

“Itachi? It’s me—hurry and open the door, okay? This pack is heavy!”

 

“Who is that?” Deidara-sama demanded, giving Itachi a little shake.

 

“S-sasuke-san,” Itachi answered nervously, clinging tighter to the scrolls. “He’s m-my brother?” he added, as this did not seem to be enough of an explanation for Deidara-sama.

 

“Itachi, hurry up!” Sasuke-san repeated, beginning to sound petulant.

 

Deidara-sama bundled the scrolls out of Itachi’s arms and dumped them on the kitchen table. “Well, what are you waiting for? Go answer the door, brat!” he whispered forcefully, pushing Itachi roughly in the direction of the door.

 

Heart pounding, Itachi headed for the door as Deidara-sama took up a position directly next to it, where Sasuke-san wouldn’t see him upon entering. Itachi froze when he saw Deidara-sama pull out a dagger, but Deidara-sama glared at him in a way that bode ill if he disobeyed, so he kept going.

 

“Finally,” Sasuke-san sighed as Itachi opened the door. “You were holed up in the library again, weren’t you? You know Otou-san said not to stay in there too long. Hey, are you okay?” he asked after a second, frowning a little. “You don’t look so good.”

 

“I-I’m fine, Sasuke-san,” Itachi replied, although he couldn’t help shifting his gaze over to where Deidara-sama was standing as he stepped back a little to let Sasuke-san in.

 

“If you’re sure...” Sasuke-san said, turning to pick up his pack before entering, “But—”

 

“Sasuke-san, don’t—!” Itachi blurted, just as Sasuke-san stepped over the threshold, but he was too late as Deidara-sama slammed the hilt of the dagger solidly into the back of Sasuke-san’s skull. Sasuke-san’s eyes widened with surprise and pain before he crumpled silently to the floor.

 

“Brat...” Deidara-sama said, sounding annoyed.

 

“I’m sorry, Deidara-sama,” Itachi said quickly, flinching as the other turned to him. “B-but Sasuke-san...I’m sorry!”

 

Deidara-sama sighed. “Well, it’s not as if it changed anything,” he said, picking up Sasuke-san, who was far too still for Itachi’s liking, and starting towards the hall. “Close the door, then get the scrolls and wait in the garden. I’ll take care of the rest of this, un.”

* * *

 

Fugaku was feeling much better as he closed the last logbook. He had already signed off on the last report, so all that was left was to go home and tell the boys to stop playing video games. As he bade goodbye to the other police officers in the duty lounge, he made a mental note to see about obtaining a second controller around Christmas, if he could stand Sasuke’s begging that long. There wasn’t any real harm in the games, certainly much less than the average ninja lifestyle contained, and anything Itachi enjoyed was worth the expenditure.

 

Frowning a little, Fugaku sniffed at the air as he stepped outside. This wasn’t really the season for bonfires, but one never knew with the Akimichi and their parties.

 

He thought nothing more of it until he rounded the corner and saw the column of smoke arising from within the walls of the Uchiha compound; more specifically, from where his house was.

 

“Not again!” he gasped as he once again found himself sprinting at an undignified pace towards his house. He knew he shouldn’t have left Itachi alone there!

 

There was no one guarding the gate as Fugaku bolted through, but he was stopped by a fire-nin before he could reach the house. “Let me past!” he demanded, trying to stare through the smoke to see any sign of the boys.

 

“There’s nothing more you can do for the house, Fugaku-dono,” the female chuunin said calmly, although she had to raise her voice to be heard over the flames and the rushing water of the attempts to put them out. “You’re just lucky Sasuke-kun wasn’t hurt.”

 

Fugaku followed where she was pointing and rushed over to where Rin was kneeling next to Sasuke, who was lying on a blanket laid on the grass. His eyes were open but unfocused, and he was coughing weakly. “Rin-sensei, will he be all right?” Fugaku asked quickly, crouching beside her.

 

“Should be,” Rin said, as calmly as she could be expected to under the circumstances. “We’re going to take him to the hospital as soon as the ambulance arrives, though—I don’t like the look of that concussion. I already sent Shisui-kun over there, he inhaled a lot of smoke getting Sasuke out.”

 

“What about Itachi?” Fugaku asked, worried that she hadn’t mentioned him yet.

 

“Itachi?” Rin repeated, looking at him with a concerned frown. “Was he in the house?”

 

“He _should_ have been!” Fugaku snapped in frustration. “Where is he?”

 

“He ‘should’ have been in the burning house?” someone repeated from behind him. Fugaku immediately recognized the voice with a sinking sensation. “Now why would you say that, I wonder?”

 

That sort of phrasing probably hadn’t been the best choice to use in front of Kakashi, Fugaku decided.

 


	11. Chapter 10

Fugaku sighed as he stood to confront Kakashi. He still had no idea where Itachi was, if he had managed to get out of the house—Fugaku told himself firmly that of course he must have, just because the alternative was too much to think about—and Kakashi interfering would only get in the way of any efforts to find him.

 

“Well, what do you think I meant by it?” Fugaku retorted, meeting Kakashi’s accusing stare with an icy one of his own.

 

“You want him dead, why don’t you just admit it!” Kakashi shouted, surprising Fugaku with his vehemence. “You got rid of him when he was a baby, and you already tried to dispose of him once after you found out you were stuck with him now!”

 

Fugaku could hear a few gasps from the gathered crowd and realized that not only were most of the non-Uchiha gathered around listening to Kakashi, but that many of his own people seemed to be as well. “This is no time to discuss my private affairs!” Fugaku snapped, in an effort to end the conversation before things could get any worse.

 

“Why not?” Kakashi replied, and Fugaku was sure there was a mocking smirk under that mask of his. “Too many witnesses?”

 

“Of course not!” Fugaku said, trying to defend himself, but he could tell by the murmurings in the crowd that it was too late to repair the damage. “Kakashi, we don’t have _time_ for this!”

 

“Fugaku-dono,” one of the police officers interrupted, cautiously approaching. “I’m afraid you’ll have to come with us.”

 

“But what are you going to do about all this?” Fugaku demanded, because he was the leader of the Uchiha clan and he was not going to lose control of the situation.

 

“We’ll begin searching for Itachi immediately,” the officer said. “If we don’t find him we’ll have to open a police investigation. If you please, Fugaku-dono?”

 

Fugaku sighed in frustration but stalked proudly after the officers back to the building he had just left. This was going to be a new experience, he mused absently. The police had just better find Itachi, though, or he would have their figurative heads when he got out of custody.

 

The police officers took the most direct route to headquarters, of course. This was partially to get there as quickly as possible, but partially because it was clear they hadn’t liked having to arrest Fugaku and were trying to be nice about it by not letting the whole village know. Of course, considering how many people had been attracted to the fire and subsequently seen the little scene between him and Kakashi, everyone in Konoha would have heard everything after a few hours, with varying degrees of accuracy.

 

He got one of the better cells, fortunately. If this had happened under any other circumstances he would have told them off for showing favoritism to a prisoner, but he was too busy thinking of other things to really care. At least it was relatively quiet. Fugaku needed to think.

 

Itachi barely knew his way around the village, so he couldn’t possibly have gotten very far unless he had been carried off. That was a worrying thought indeed—if someone tried to seize Itachi, Fugaku wasn’t at all sure that the boy would even attempt to resist. The first child of the Uchiha clan ruler would be quite a prize to anyone wanting to acquire the bloodline, but Fugaku wasn’t sure enough people actually knew about Itachi’s existence to warrant a kidnapping for that end.

 

Of course, there was one individual who knew of Itachi’s existence, knew his current location, and had sufficient motivation to attempt to retrieve him. Fugaku had frankly given little thought to Itachi’s former master other than fervently detesting him (or her, he reminded himself just to be fair). Now he regretted this oversight, as he had nothing to go on as to where to begin searching for his son.

 

Still, there was yet a small chance that Itachi could have just been frightened off, and that the search party would find him. Perhaps he had even set the fire by accident and fled for fear of retribution, although that did not explain Sasuke’s being trapped inside. There was no point in Fugaku rushing blindly into things; he would wait a bit and see what else he could learn about the situation.

…...

 

Kakashi paced restlessly up and down across his living room rug, wondering what was going on in police headquarters at that very moment. He had been a bit surprised that they had questioned Fugaku at all, let alone put him under arrest.

 

After that, they had summoned Kakashi to tell them everything he knew. He understood the necessity of getting all the facts straight before accusing a ‘valued member of the community’ (however little he agreed with that statement) of such a serious crime, but spending four hours being interrogated over an episode that had only lasted fifteen minutes or twenty at the most was really a bit much.

 

“Stop that,” Rin said after a few minutes of sitting on the couch and waiting for him to talk to her. “You’re going to bother the neighbours,” she added pragmatically, as he turned to her seemingly having forgotten she was there since she arrived. “What’s wrong?”

 

Kakashi shrugged, then continued pacing. “I don’t know...I just wish I hadn’t let Itachi go back with him that time.”

 

“You did say he went willingly,” Rin pointed out.

 

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Kakashi replied, “not with someone like that. He could have known what Fugaku was planning to do, and I doubt it would have made any difference. I just wished I could have guessed, or done _something!_ ”

 

“Why don’t you visit Sasuke in the hospital?” Rin suggested, getting up as the coffeemaker in the kitchen dinged sharply. “He’s awake now, and he wants to know what’s going on. You’re his teacher, you should go.”

 

“And tell him his brother’s probably dead, his father’s going to be tried on suspicion of murder, and it’s my fault?” Kakashi shook his head as he accepted a cup of coffee. “No thanks.”

 

“I guess I can’t really blame you,” Rin said with a small sigh. “But he needs someone.”

 

“Maybe later then,” Kakashi replied. “But not now.”

 

“Stop blaming yourself,” Rin whispered gently. She had to reach up to pat him on the shoulder, and Kakashi was surprised by how small she was. “Anyone else would have thought the same thing about Itachi, you know, that he was just a bit flighty. No one would have guessed that he really had anything to be frightened of—honestly, it’s not your fault.”

 

Kakashi tried to smile a little, even though he knew it wouldn’t show behind the mask. “Thank you.”

 

“You’re welcome,” Rin said, going back to her strict hospital demeanour. “Obito’s back at police headquarters—probably going through the same thing you just did—but he said he would try to visit later. Now promise you’ll at least eat something and get some sleep tonight.”

 

When Rin was like that, Kakashi knew that he would get no peace until he obeyed, so he nodded at all her instructions until she was out the door, then closed it and leaned back against it wearily.

 

The coffee was cold by the time he remembered to drink it.

…...

 

By the time night fell, Fugaku was beginning to get rather frustrated. He did understand that he was a prisoner, but he had hoped they would at least tell him something! However much they were to be commended on their adherence to police protocol, he was Itachi’s father and he wanted to know what had happened as much as they did—although of course the police didn’t really believe him when he said so. Admittedly, having abandoned his son to near-certain death in his infancy didn’t exactly make him look like the individual most interested in Itachi’s welfare now.

 

He was sure that the search party must have returned by now, as he thought he had felt a group of shinobi shunshin  in upstairs. If they had found Itachi, Fugaku would have been immediately released, so he now had to presume the worst.

 

How Fugaku was supposed to find his son while locked in jail was a rather troubling question. He had no weapons, obviously, and even if he had, he had been off of active shinobi duty for long enough that he would be hard pressed against the younger ninjas currently in the building. He could feel at least a couple of dozen chakra signatures resonating from the upper stories, enough that he doubted he could get through even with the element of surprise.

 

Still, he could wait.

 

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long. Roughly half of the chakra signatures soon disappeared, probably with the sunset and the beginning of regular patrols through the village and surrounding roads. The number that were left were mostly in the uppermost story, which was the lounge, so they were likely not in a very observant frame of mind. Also, his chakra signature was familiar enough to most of them that if he could just get out of the cell, there was a chance that he could get most of the way out before they remembered that he wasn’t on their side at the moment.

 

One of the benefits of being off of active duty, he realized, was that no one had bothered to make sure his chakra was blocked off before locking him up. This made it a simple enough matter to produce a _katon_ hot enough to melt the lock and then kick the door open before it could cool.

 

As he was doing this, he realized that breaking jail would only serve to make him look even more guilty, but he was in too much of a hurry to find his son to care.

 

Hot droplets of metal splattered across the wall, and Fugaku had to duck to avoid being burned. Quickly monitoring the other occupants of the building, he concluded that no one had noticed the disturbance and ran towards the stairs heading up.

 

Opening the door leading to the main floor, he immediately had to change his deduction as he dodged a taijutsu strike from one of his officers. He hated fighting his own men, but he had no choice at the moment. This particular officer was much too overconfident fighting the former ninja head of the police department; it seemed he had given a little too much thought to the ‘former’ and not enough to the ‘ninja’ part of the equation.

 

When the chuunin lay unconscious at his feet, Fugaku took the opportunity to borrow his belt of kunai and shuriken in case he had to fight anyone else before he got to the armory. He had never been a projectile fighter, but he could use these well enough for a bit.

 

Once he had a pair of swords strapped across his back, he felt much better, even as he turned to face several other officers who had gathered blocking the door to the armory. He was getting back into the swing of things now, and they would do to work out his anger on until he found whoever had taken Itachi.

 

Then there was the matter of how he was to find his son. He had next to nothing to go on—‘a cave’ could hardly be called a decisive clue. However, he had an idea that might prove to be very interesting...and he had a few scores to settle after this mess, anyway.

 


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

 

Kakashi jumped at the pounding on his door, bolting upright and then spending a few disoriented seconds trying to sort out where he was. Finally he recognized his own couch—although he wasn’t sure how he had ended up sleeping there—and stood up. Rin had said Obito would be visiting, but this was really a bit late, wasn’t it?

 

“All right, all right, I’m coming!” he called as he made his way over to the door and opened it. “So, how’d it go, Obi—?”

 

He cut himself off as a pair of swords flashed up to his throat. “I’m guessing you’re not Obito,” Kakashi finished a little more quietly. It was too dark for him to make out anything more of his ‘visitor’, who signalled for him to move back into the living room, then shut the door behind them.

 

“Good guess,” the invader said, lowering one of the swords in order to flick on the lightswitch.

 

Kakashi gasped, instinctively beginning to reach for a kunai but quickly stopping himself as he realized who had the upper hand. “Fugaku? But—you’re in jail!”

 

“Obviously that is no longer the case,” Fugaku retorted dryly.

 

“What do you want?” Kakashi demanded. Fugaku had to give the man some credit; even in a situation like this, Kakashi showed no fear at all. The mask probably helped with that, though.

 

“I require your assistance,” Fugaku explained calmly. “I’m also in a bit of a hurry, so if you’ll summon your dogs, we can leave at once.”

 

“Leave for where? And what do my dogs have to do with anything?”

 

“I need your dogs so I can find my son, who could have been taken anywhere by now due to the delay that _you_ caused by getting me arrested!” Fugaku snapped in frustration. He had of course not expected Kakashi to be at all compliant, but Itachi was probably getting farther away by the minute and Fugaku had had about enough of all this.

 

“What do you mean, ‘taken’?” Kakashi said, still sounding suspicious.

 

“I _mean_ that his ‘Master’ wants him back and had him kidnapped,” Fugaku said, wondering if he had to speak in words of one syllable.

 

“Then you didn’t—”

 

“ _Of course I didn’t!_ ”

 

“...okay...” Kakashi edged back half a step, as Fugaku had been pushing a little too hard on the swords while he was shouting. Fugaku hadn’t hurt him, thankfully, as he needed Kakashi specifically at the moment. “I’ll get the dogs—if you’ll put the swords away for a moment—but I still don’t trust you.”

 

“I don’t recall asking you to trust me,” Fugaku retorted, but removed the swords from where he had been holding them at Kakashi’s throat all the same.

 

He wasn’t sure that this was at all a good idea; there were any number of things Kakashi could do to summon help or take Fugaku down himself. Still, he had to find Itachi somehow, and Fugaku hoped that Kakashi’s innate curiosity would drive him to try to find out what was going on without dumping Fugaku back in jail. Kakashi certainly wasn’t trying anything during the summoning. Fugaku knew how that worked and Kakashi didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.

 

Kakashi didn’t summon his full eight-dog pack, but Fugaku wasn’t sure if he should interpret that as a sign that Kakashi wasn’t planning anything or a side effect of the size of Kakashi’s living room.

 

When the cloud of smoke dissipated, there was an massive black mastiff sitting in the middle of the floor, with a tiny, nondescript brown pug perched on top of its head.

 

“Hey, Boss,” the little pug said. Fugaku was a bit surprised to hear it speak; even though he knew many summons could (including the ninja cats sometimes called upon by the Uchiha) it was always a little surreal. “What did you summon us for? And who’s he?” the dog asked, tilting his head towards Fugaku.

 

“I need you to track someone,” Kakashi said. “This is Uchiha Fugaku.”

 

The pug sniffed in Fugaku’s direction. “Really now. From what I’ve heard you say about him, I’m surprised that he doesn’t smell worse.”

 

“Pakkun...”

 

“Oh, should I not have mentioned that?”

 

“This isn’t playtime, Pakkun,” Kakashi replied, sounding a little annoyed. “Fugaku, what do you have that he could track Itachi from?”

 

“Well,” Fugaku began, “Since I was in jail because of allegations _someone_ founded, I didn’t have the chance to get anything from the house before all of it went up in smoke.”

 

Kakashi had the grace to look somewhat abashed. “I see. We can start casting around from the compound...or I can, at least—I won’t tell anyone!” he protested, as Fugaku raised a suspicious eyebrow.

 

Things seemed to be going well enough so far. Hopefully Kakashi’s desire to play detective would hold until they were out of the village; after that it wouldn’t matter much anyway, as there wouldn’t be anyone around he could turn Fugaku in to.

 

The dogs headed out on the porch, followed by Kakashi and Fugaku. There was no one in the street below, thankfully. Of course, Kakashi’s apartment and the surrounding area would have been the last place any of the Uchiha police would have thought to look.

 

“Now,” Kakashi said quietly to the dogs as they leapt down to the street, “we’re tracking his son—” he motioned towards Fugaku “—but not Sasuke,” he added. “He’s older than Sasuke. Someone probably took him out of the compound, heading—” he turned towards Fugaku, who realized that he was expected to provide an answer.

 

“I’m not sure exactly,” he said. “No one in the police building saw anything, but if they were headed out of Fire Country they must have gone either North or West.”

 

Pakkun nodded, then appeared to confer with the other dog for a moment. “If we start rounding the village we should catch the trail sooner or later,” he said finally.

 

“Good,” Kakashi said. “Let’s go.”

 

It was a simple matter for Kakashi and Fugaku to travel across rooftops to the wall. The wall was actually relatively unguarded, and Fugaku made a mental note to tell his personnel on his return not to be so easily distracted by disturbances inside the village when it was their job to be watching the perimeter. For the moment, however, he was grateful that they managed to get across the wall without being contested.

 

They started around the village near the north gate, Pakkun seeming to take an interminably long time as he carefully snuffled along the ground and also sniffed at the cold night air. Still, Fugaku didn’t think he ought to complain; Kakashi was being amazingly helpful as it was, and he didn’t need to start a quarrel. Frankly, he was surprised that Kakashi hadn’t started an argument with him yet.

 

Fugaku became more and more worried as the time went on without Pakkun or the other dog (Kakashi said his name was ‘Bull’) catching any trace of Itachi’s scent. They were nearing another gate now, which would mean more delay as they had to pass it without anyone sighting them. Itachi could be hundreds of miles away by now, and Fugaku hated to think of how he could be faring, wherever he was. He should never have left him alone.

 

Suddenly, Pakkun halted, smelled at the air a little more, then scrambled up Bull’s back so he could smell at the air from a little higher up. “I think I’ve got it, Boss,” he reported.

 

“Which way was he going?” Fugaku asked eagerly.

 

“Northwest,” Pakkun answered. “Fast, too.”

 

“Let’s go.” _I won’t leave you there, Itachi._

…...

 

Despite Fugaku’s near desperate hurry to get to where his son was, he found himself bound to Pakkun’s slower pace as the little dog kept them to the correct trail. Apparently whoever had taken Itachi away had some sort of airborne conveyance, which made them that much harder to track.

 

It soon became clear that they were going to end up a long distance away, as Pakkun had led them on for hours and the trail had hardly become any clearer.

 

“We’re going to leave the country if this keeps up,” Kakashi said after a little while. “Don’t you have any idea where they might have gone?”

 

“Other than ‘a cave’, I don’t have anything to go on,” Fugaku admitted. Sasuke had also said that it was cold, but most caves were, really, so there was no point mentioning that.

 

“There’s a mountain range on the border between Wind Country and Rain Country,” Kakashi said. “There are probably plenty of caves there, and we seem to be headed in that direction so far, at least.”

 

“Right then,” Fugaku said before dashing off in the direction indicated. He could hear Kakashi calling for him to wait up, but disregarded him. He had no time to waste; Kakashi could catch up on his own. Now that he knew where he was going, at least approximately, he could go at a decent pace. Maybe he would even get there before morning.

 

Kakashi caught up a short time later, the two dogs bounding through the trees after him. “You should be careful,” he said, “we’re almost to the border. If anyone were going to attack us, they would do it—”

 

The black dog suddenly pounced on Kakashi, throwing him against Fugaku and bringing them both to the ground as a series of explosive tags strung along a wire went off just above them. Flame burst across the crown of the tree they had just been in, and Fugaku barely missed being run through by a sharp piece of branch flung through the air by the blast.

 

“—now,” Kakashi finished, ducking falling splinters and coughing a little from the smoke. “See what I mean? We almost ran right into that.”

 

“And now they know we’re coming,” Fugaku added, lifting Pakkun off his chest as he gingerly picked himself up. At least Kakashi and the larger dog hadn’t landed on top of him, but he had felt that fall a lot more than he wanted to admit.

 

“That too,” Kakashi agreed. “And here I was trying to do nice easy stuff after that thing in Wave country...”

 

“Stop complaining and let’s go,” Fugaku said, although it came out as not quite so much of a dictat and a little more teasingly than he had meant.

 

Kakashi didn’t say anything about this, and they kept going, although more carefully and on the ground this time. The forest was beginning to thin out, the dense treeline letting light through as the trees became farther apart.

 

“Are we still going in the right direction?” Kakashi asked after a little while, scooping up Pakkun so that they could talk and keep going.

 

“I think so,” Pakkun said. “That smoke blurred the scent, but it’s still there.”

 

“Good,” Kakashi said. “We should be able to see the mountains soon.”

 

“Which also means that anyone there will be able to see us,” Fugaku pointed out.

  
They stopped talking altogether after that.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

 

After a while longer of traveling through the thinning forest, the trees vanished altogether to be replaced by the dusty scrubland that covered the plains between Fire Country and Wind Country. This meant that Fugaku and Kakashi would be very visible as they approached the mountains to the north, and vulnerable to any attack.

 

Pausing at the edge of the forest to crouch behind a fallen log, Kakashi turned to Fugaku. “Any plans?”

 

“Other than getting Itachi, no,” Fugaku replied. He could see the mountains, but they were still some distance away, even though they had been traveling all night and into the morning. “Does your dog have any idea where in the mountains they are?”

 

“You can just ask me, you know,” Pakkun said before Kakashi could answer the question. The little pug jumped up on top of the log to sniff the air. “He’s definitely somewhere in these mountains. Seems like he’s pretty far in, though. Behind that first range, even.”

 

“Right,” Kakashi said. “If we keep up like this we should be able to get through the first pass by afternoon,” he continued as he and Fugaku began to make their way carefully across the plain. “There don’t seem to be any more traps set, so maybe whoever it was thought the first one got us.”

 

“Or they’re waiting for us to get in a better position for them to target,” Fugaku pointed out.

 

“Well, that is another option...” Kakashi admitted. “I just didn’t want to think about that.”

 

Fugaku kept feeling the urge to hurry as they travelled across the plain; he hated feeling vulnerable, which they undoubtedly were at the moment. However, going more quickly would only serve to draw more attention to themselves, so he forced himself to keep to the slower pace.

 

The mountains did begin to look closer, but it was hours before they began to climb into the foothills. Fugaku was tiring now—it had been years since he had driven himself like this, and he had to admit that he was decidedly out of practice. Kakashi was starting to look weary as well, and Fugaku hoped that they would be able to fight if it came to that.

 

He felt a bit better once they were into the mountains. While the terrain was harder to cover, there was more shelter in case they were attacked. However, the sun was beating down unrelentingly, and Fugaku soon wished that he had taken the time to pack some supplies before rushing out of the village. He had been in far too much of a hurry to even think about preparing properly.

 

“How are we doing, Pakkun?” Kakashi asked after a little while, pausing in the shade of a large boulder.

 

“Right on track,” Pakkun replied. “Just another few miles.”

 

“Good,” Fugaku said, as the dog continued to sniff the air. “I’ve had about enough—”

 

“Boss, look out!” Pakkun interrupted. Instinctively, Fugaku ducked as a large white bird—a hawk or an owl, perhaps—flew past them so close that it almost snatched Kakashi’s headband off.

 

“What was that about?” Fugaku said in confusion.

 

“I’m not sure, but I don’t like it,” Kakashi replied, pulling out a kunai as the bird came around for another pass.

 

“That bird’s loaded with chakra,” Pakkun informed them, and Bull growled warningly.

 

“I’ll just take care of it then,” Kakashi said, readying the kunai and letting fly with it as soon as the bird came within range.

 

None of them were expecting the bird to suddenly blow up as the kunai hit it. Kakashi and Fugaku barely had time to duck, and Bull whined as a small chunk of a sticky, smoldering white substance struck his flank.

 

Kakashi knelt to brush the stuff off his dog before it could injure him, then frowned as he touched it. “That bird was made out of clay,” he said as he wiped his hand off on the dirt.

 

“Clay?” Fugaku repeated.

 

“Hey, you down there!” a voice shouted, and Kakashi and Fugaku both looked up.

 

The first thing Fugaku noticed was the massive white bird, although this time he could tell that it wasn’t really a bird. It must have had a wingspan of nearly twelve feet, and its wingbeats were powerful enough to create a breeze even on the ground below. Then he noticed its rider, a young man wearing a slashed-though Iwa headband.

 

“Where is Itachi?” Fugaku demanded. There was little other reason for anyone to attack them in these almost deserted mountains.

 

“Who? Oh, you must mean the brat, un,” the missing-nin said. “Wouldn’t you like to find out...but it doesn’t matter at all, you know. I’m just here to get rid of unwanted guests!”

 

The speed with which the bird dove was unexpected, and Fugaku was nearly struck by a wing and flung off the mountain. He dove out of the way just in time, but still had to deal with several of the smaller flying bombs that the missing-nin had released on his pass over. It was a lucky thing he had picked up that belt of throwing weapons; his swords were ill-suited for this kind of fighting.

 

“That explains how he got Itachi away so fast,” Kakashi said quietly as they sheltered behind a rock while the bird came around again. “You think that’s Itachi’s master?”

 

“I don’t think so,” Fugaku whispered back. “He’s not old enough.” The blond missing-nin could scarcely have been any older than Itachi, if that.

 

“Great,” Kakashi grumbled, “That means we’ll have another fight after this one, at least.”

 

There was no time for conversation after that, because they were too busy dodging the flock of sparrow-sized bombs sent after them. Fugaku quickly found himself separated from Kakashi and the dogs, and their teenage antagonist seemed to be singling him out. In an effort to get the advantage, Fugaku climbed a ways further up the mountainside so that he was above his opponent and flung a spread of shuriken.

 

The other saw them coming, and banked his bird so that the weapons struck harmlessly in the creature’s belly. Apparently this one didn’t blow up when struck; that would have been making things much too easy.

 

Fugaku couldn’t see Kakashi at all now, and assumed that the other Konoha shinobi must be too busy with his own fight to offer any aid here.

 

With just a few seconds before the giant bird and its rider came up on him again, Fugaku ran over his options, then drew his swords and took a deep breath. He would only have one chance, and the result if he failed wouldn’t be at all pleasant.

 

The bird came almost even with him as the missing-nin prepared to release another bomb. Gathering all his chakra, Fugaku jumped.

 

Although the bird immediately started to turn out of the way, Fugaku had judged perfectly and landed on its back, directly behind the rider. The sudden shift in weight made the boy lose his footing, but he still managed to block Fugaku’s sword strikes with a kunai.

 

“What do you want with the brat, anyway?” the blonde asked angrily as his bird swept into a steep dive, nearly throwing Fugaku off. “It’s not like he’s good for much, un.”

 

Fugaku had to remind himself that he couldn’t afford to take the boy’s head off; he needed information. He couldn’t let himself be distracted, either, as if he lost any concentration he could easily be tipped off the bird to the ground that was now hundreds of feet below.

 

Taijutsu on the back of a moving bird was nothing Fugaku had ever tried before, and it was nothing he wanted to try again, he quickly decided. While he outweighed the boy, he didn’t have the almost instinctive sense of balance that the boy had and struggled to stay on as the bird pitched and dove. The one advantage he had was that he could see where they were going, as the boy had turned to face him when he jumped onto the bird.

 

It wasn’t much of an advantage, but Fugaku liked to think of himself as an optimist.

 

He could hear shouting from below although he couldn’t make out the words, and hazarded a brief glimpse at the mountain to see Kakashi looking up at them.

 

“A little help would be nice!” he shouted back down, although he didn’t think there was much of a chance that Kakashi could actually hear him. He didn’t have a chance to say anything else or look to see if they had responded, as he was too busy trying to stay on the bird as the missing-nin kicked out at him in an attempt to make him lose his balance.

 

As if that weren’t enough, apparently Kakashi had heard, for the next thing Fugaku knew he was dodging a spread of shuriken flung from the ground as well as grappling with his opponent. It was a long time since he had been a teenager, of course, but Fugaku didn’t think he’d ever been quite that flexible; the boy had managed to get out of every hold Fugaku had tried so far.

 

Showing little care for what could happen if he missed his aim, Kakashi kept throwing things at the boy on the bird, much to Fugaku’s annoyance. The bird’s dodging made it hard to keep his balance, and even harder to fight. It was a not so very minor miracle that he hadn’t been thrown to his death yet, frankly.

 

After a little while longer, Fugaku realized that there actually was a method to Kakashi’s madness; the weapons he was throwing were aimed so as to keep the bird dodging towards the mountain. The boy riding it couldn’t see where the bird was going, as he had turned to fight Fugaku, so he couldn’t tell what was going on.

 

Finally, the bird was only a few yards from the mountainside. Judging this his best chance, Fugaku waited until the bird banked to dodge a spread of kunai then tackled the rider, taking them both off the back of the bird.

 

It was a good thing he had, for the bird hit the mountainside while they were still falling and blew up, showering them with small chunks of rock and hot clay as they hit the ground. Fugaku landed on top, much to his relief; he had had quite enough of falling off of things for the day. Drawing his swords, he held them ready in case the missing-nin decided to try anything, although from how dazed he looked that was probably an unneeded precaution.

 

“Who are you?” he demanded, as Kakashi came running up, followed by the dogs.

 

“Deidara,” the boy mumbled, sulkily brushing dust out of his bangs as he sat up.

 

Fugaku recognized the name as something he had seen in a bingo book, but the Deidara clan was large and widespread, so that was little help. “Where is Itachi?” he continued.

 

“Danna calls him Sen,” Deidara replied, not very helpfully.

 

“His name is Itachi,” Fugaku said as calmly as he could. He was getting a little tired of having to explain this to people all the time. “Now where is he?”

 

“It doesn’t matter,” Deidara said, although he still sounded a bit woozy. “Danna won’t let you take him. You’ll die.”

 

“I don’t think he’ll be much help,” Kakashi said from behind Fugaku.

 

“It doesn’t look like it,” Fugaku agreed. “Should we just leave him here?”

 

“Well, it doesn’t look as if he’ll be running off anywhere anytime soon,” Kakashi pointed out. “Pakkun can lead us to where Itachi is just as well.”

 

“Right,” Fugaku said. “Let’s hurry—‘Danna’ probably saw that explosion.”

 

With Pakkun riding Bull leading the way, Fugaku and Kakashi started off as quickly as they could. Fugaku ignored the pain in his leg from the fall; his son was waiting, so a sprained ankle hardly mattered.

 

 


	14. Chapter 13

“Well, what do you think?” Fugaku said, looking over the rock they had sheltered behind to the cave mouth, which was only a few dozen yards away. They had not encountered any further trouble since the battle with Deidara, which was a bit surprising, as well as worrying.

 

“I don’t like it,” Kakashi replied. “But I don’t see what options we have apart from heading in. We know Itachi’s in there.”

 

“The question is, who else?” Fugaku said. He had been looking forward to dealing with Itachi’s former master, but if they had to fight anyone else besides they would be in trouble.

 

Pakkun shrugged as much as a squat little pug could. “I can’t smell much of anything besides Itachi in there, but all that means is that there could be any number of people in there, they’re just masking very well.” He began to pant after he had finished speaking; he looked exhausted from the long trip.

 

“Right then,” Kakashi said, pushing his headband up to reveal the red whorls of the Sharingan, “let’s find out.”

 

They were painfully visible crossing the remaining distance to the cave—Fugaku kept expecting to be stabbed in the back at any moment and was a bit surprised that nothing happened. Pakkun was sniffing around diligently, and Bull was growling suspiciously, pacing stiffly back and forth in front of them as they walked. All the hair on the big dog’s back was standing up, making him look even larger.

 

Fugaku was hyperaware of the sound every footstep made and every beat of his heart as they paused just outside the cave, ducking into the minimal safety immediately next to the opening. It was pitch dark in the cave, and looked narrow. That wasn’t good. Using his swords would be difficult in a tight space, and projectile weapons would be of no use at all. Kakashi would be similarly limited, as his high-power jutsu would be hard to utilize without catching up one of his companions.

 

“He’s back a ways,” Pakkun reported, after darting out to sniff quickly at the opening. “It must widen out later on.”

 

Fugaku let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. “Let’s go. We’re not doing Itachi any good dawdling around out here.”

 

Fugaku led the way into the cave, with Pakkun trotting along a little behind him. Kakashi and Bull followed cautiously, occasionally turning to check behind them. It was tight and claustrophobic in the narrow tunnel. Fugaku and Kakashi had to crouch down to get through without hitting their heads, although it looked as if it widened out after about fifty yards. Hopefully they could make it that far without being attacked.

 

The pleasant thought struck Fugaku that perhaps the explosion of the bird had been misinterpreted as a victory on Deidara’s part, and they weren’t expected after all. Of course, that was probably too good to be true. They would be lucky if he hadn’t recovered enough to follow them.

 

The tight tunnel space seemed to magnify every sound, and Fugaku called several halts as he listened for noises from the other end that might let them know something of what they would be up against. It turned out to be a false alarm every time, which only served to make him even more apprehensive. He hated going into a fight without knowing what he was getting himself into.

 

Finally, after what seemed like ages, the tunnel began to widen out. There was a larger, dimly lit chamber it opened on to, but Fugaku couldn’t see anything in there except vague shadows. Nothing was moving, which he hoped was a good sign.

 

He and Kakashi could stand abreast as they reached the end of the tunnel. As his eyes began to adjust to the dim light, Fugaku scanned around the room. It appeared to be a workshop of some kind, with things scattered about in organized chaos, but he couldn’t tell what was being made.

 

“Itachi!” he whispered urgently, as he saw no one in the room. “Itachi, where are you!”

 

There was a stifled gasp from one of the shadowed corners of the room, but no reply. Not heeding Kakashi’s urging him to be careful, Fugaku ran over to where his son was waiting.

  
Itachi was kneeling docilely in a far corner corner with his head down, next to one of the worktables. His sweater was missing, Fugaku noticed, and he could see a few bruises on his arms. Itachi’s hands had been tied behind his back, not that there could have been really any need for that—it was probably more symbolic than anything else.

 

“Don’t worry, Itachi,” Fugaku said quickly, drawing one of his swords to cut the cords. “You’re safe now. I’ll have you home in no time.”

 

Itachi did not reply, and Fugaku carefully put an arm around his shoulders to help him to his feet as Kakashi came over to them. “All right,” Fugaku said, turning towards Kakashi, “We’ve got what we came for, so let’s go before—”

 

Suddenly, the cavern flared with light, and Fugaku was blinded for a split second before he recovered. In the flickering light of the electric bulbs, he could clearly see the workbenches lining the walls, and felt faintly sick as he realized that it was dismembered human body parts scattered over them. Only the fact that he had become partially desensitized to that sort of thing during his career kept him from freezing up in horror.

 

“I see that Deidara failed to dispose of you,” a voice said, and Fugaku held Itachi tighter as his gaze followed the line of workbenches to a staircase in another corner of the room, leading up to a door that someone was standing in front of.

 

To Fugaku’s surprise, Itachi’s master didn’t look much older than Itachi himself, but there was a coldness in his red-brown eyes that belonged to a much older individual. He carried himself like someone who was used to authority, and there was a black cloak with some kind of red emblems on it draped around his shoulders.

 

Next to Fugaku, Kakashi tensed in recognition. “Sasori,” he whispered, his voice tinged with apprehension.

 

“Who? Is that bad?” Fugaku made a mental note to catch up on his bingo book reading, once they got out of this. He must be woefully behind.

 

“Akasuna no Sasori,” Kakashi said. “It’s very bad. Let’s get out of here.”

 

They started for the exit, Fugaku half-dragging Itachi behind them, but before they could get more than a few strides, Sasori flashed through a few seals and the roof of the tunnel they had came through collapsed. With that way blocked with hundreds of tons of rock, the only way out was to get past Sasori.

 

Fugaku pushed Itachi behind him where he could be protected and drew his swords. “Let us through,” he demanded.

 

Sasori laughed scornfully, not seeming to be in the least fazed. “Such a fool you are,” he smirked. “Ah, well. It’s been such a long time since I had an Uchiha specimen to work with. And a Hatake! This _will_ be fun...”

 

Fugaku took a step back, ready to defend himself, even though he could see no sign of an attack. He could sense Kakashi doing the same beside him, although he didn’t risk turning away from their adversary to look.

 

“Sen!” Sasori snapped commandingly.

 

Fugaku grabbed for Itachi’s arm too late as the boy slipped out of his grasp and obediently ran up the stairs to join Sasori.

 

“Yes, Master-sama,” Itachi said, bowing deeply.

 

Fugaku could practically feel his heart pounding in his throat. He couldn’t—!

 

“Sen,” Sasori ordered, gesturing towards Fugaku and Kakashi, “kill them.”

 

Itachi’s gaze flickered from his master to his father. “B-but—”

 

Sasori’s expression didn’t change at all when he struck Itachi across the face, even though Itachi staggered a little at the weight of the blow. “Kill them, useless,” Sasori hissed.

 

Fugaku had only a split-second of warning as Itachi straightened up, then practically flew over the stone floor towards them, a summoned katana glinting in this hand.

 

“Don’t hurt him!” Fugaku shouted as Bull sprang at Itachi. Itachi had felt far too fragile when he found him, and the dog could likely tear him to pieces without any trouble.

 

Distracted by the sound, Bull half-turned to look back at them, then whined in pain as the katana sliced into his unprotected flank, flinging him to the ground several feet away followed by a spray of blood.

 

Even as he registered this, Fugaku had to bring his own swords up to block Itachi’s downward strike. “Itachi, don’t do this!”

 

“I am Sen,” Itachi corrected, his voice sounding dull and lifeless, as he whirled to parry several senbon Kakashi threw.

 

“Itachi...” Fugaku said almost pleadingly, stepping back as he blocked a series of blows from Itachi’s katana. Itachi did not respond.

 

Fugaku couldn’t see Kakashi anywhere now, and hazarded a brief glance around for him. Kakashi had made a run at Sasori and was now having to fend off a pair of his puppets; he looked as if he was having a hard time of it. Fugaku wondered if the puppets had once been human beings, but quickly decided he didn’t want to think about that. Sasori looked almost bored as he controlled the puppets attacking Kakashi—if he had killed to make his weapons, he showed no sign of caring.

 

There was obviously no help to be had from that sector. Fugaku would have to deal with Itachi himself, but he couldn’t possibly bring himself to hurt his son. Still, he hadn’t come this far only to be foiled at the last minute—he would think of something. He had to.

 

He had little time to think, however. Itachi had a speed near the level of Shisui’s body flicker, and Fugaku was hard pressed to keep up with the shower of blows; more than a few got through his defenses, although he had managed to avoid any severe injuries so far. While he did get one or two chances to get a strike of his own in, he couldn’t risk hurting Itachi and held back too much to get any advantages from the openings.

 

If he could just disarm Itachi, he might have a chance, but his attempt to catch Itachi’s darting blade between his swords failed. This made him open to a slash that he barely managed to duck, leaving him with a gash across his collarbone rather than a decapitation. Fugaku was exhausted, and knew he couldn’t keep up this kind of pace for much longer. Kakashi seemed to be in similar straits.

  
He hoped that Konoha wouldn’t hold their deaths against Itachi, if they happened to catch him again later.


	15. Chapter 14

“Itachi, please,” Fugaku pleaded, locking blades with Itachi in order to gain a half-second’s respite, “you don’t have to do this. Come back to Konoha with us.”

 

Itachi made no response, if he had even heard. The proximity between their faces meant that Fugaku didn’t have enough warning to look away from Itachi’s blood-red eyes as the boy raised his head, and he only managed to notice how painfully blank Itachi’s face was before the red mist covered his vision.

 

It was surreal being inside Itachi’s genjutsu. The sky was burning red, with an unnaturally large moon hovering oppressively over the horizon, but other than that everything looked like a black-and-white photographic negative. Even Fugaku himself adhered to this color scheme, he realized as he looked down at his hands.

 

He didn’t recognize where he was; it looked like a street in some industrial city. While the buildings were all intact, the street was deserted. Fugaku had trouble deciding whether it was day or night; while there was no sun, the huge moon made it almost as bright as day, although there was a sickly reddish-gray cast over everything.

 

When Fugaku turned to look around for any sign of life he saw Itachi standing silently atop one of the roofs at the other end of the street. He looked unearthly, silhouetted against the brightness of the moon. Fugaku hardly dared to breathe as he tried to remember everything that he had heard about the Mangekyou Sharingan—even though he had some doubts as to the accuracy of the information. It had been decades since the last possessor of that level of Sharingan died, and many of its abilities had fallen into rumors.

 

The most pressing question, he quickly decided as Itachi vanished from the moonlit rooftop to appear directly in front of him, was whether he would die in the real world as well if Itachi were to kill him inside his genjutsu. It was theoretically possible, if a powerful enough hold was achieved over the victim’s mind, but no one had ever done it. Or at least, if anyone had they hadn’t been willing to admit to it afterwards, and with good reason.

 

“Itachi,” Fugaku said, a little surprised at how normal his voice sounded in this place where everything was wrong, “come home with me.”

 

“You don’t own me,” Itachi replied, his voice frighteningly even as he drew his katana again and held it to Fugaku’s throat. “I follow Master-sama’s orders.”

 

Fugaku remembered the first time he had seen Itachi, in the Hokage’s office—it seemed like years ago, even though it had hardly been a month. _I don’t own you,_ he had said. Had Itachi taken that to mean that Fugaku didn’t want him? “Itachi, no one should own you at all.” Inside the genjutsu, Itachi was wearing the same clothes now as then, and Fugaku wondered if it was a sign of Sasori’s possession.

 

Itachi looked vaguely wistful, and Fugaku thought with a flare of hope that perhaps he had finally gotten through to him. “I am nothing without a master,” Itachi replied finally, dashing Fugaku’s hopes. He was running out of time. “Master-sama told me to kill you,” Itachi added after a pause, although he still made no move to push on the blade of the katana.

 

Even if he could break free from this genjutsu, Fugaku wasn’t sure how he could possibly get Itachi away from Sasori. He hated the thought of forcing Itachi to do anything against his will, but even dragging him back to Konoha by force would be better than leaving him here to remain in slavery, wouldn’t it?

 

As Itachi still hesitated, Fugaku took the opportunity to grab his wrist and force his sword arm down. Itachi barely resisted, and looked more confused than anything else. “Master-sama said—” he began, but Fugaku cut him off.

 

“I know what he told you to do, but it’s pretty clear that you don’t want to,” he said, gently trying to take the sword from Itachi’s hand. He wasn’t sure whether he could expect anything else to attack him in this realm, but it would be best to be prepared for anything.

 

Itachi obligingly released his grip on the sword, but as Fugaku’s hand closed on its hilt the katana dissolved into red dust. Fugaku looked up in surprise and with a slight jolt found himself back in the real world, still facing down Itachi across their blades.

 

Itachi took a small step back, lowering the katana that he was again holding. “O-otou-sama?”

 

Fugaku almost sighed in relief that Itachi still acknowledged him. Catching a glimpse of motion from the corner of his eye, he half-turned to see Kakashi backing towards them, still fending off one of Sasori’s puppets. He had apparently managed to do away with one, for there was a jumbled heap of body parts sprawled at the base of the staircase.

 

Pakkun was curled up next to Bull, licking gently at the slash in the bigger dog’s side that was still oozing blood sluggishly. Bull was struggling to rise, obviously eager to get into the fight, but his legs didn’t seem to work quite right and slipped out from under him at every attempt.

 

Sasori hadn’t moved from his position at the top of the staircase, but he looked annoyed at their continued survival as he controlled his remaining puppet. Fugaku wondered how long Kakashi had been fighting while he was in the genjutsu; it must have been a while, as Kakashi had gotten several injuries that hadn’t been there before.

 

Sparing a few seconds to turn his back on Itachi, Fugaku performed a quick shunshin to get behind the puppet Kakashi was fighting. Aided by the Sharingan, he successfully avoided a few volleys of senbon from launchers concealed in the puppet’s back and slashed through its spinal cord with his swords, wincing a little at the backwash of hot chakra conducted through the metal. The insulated grips protected him from being injured, but he still felt it.

 

“That takes care of that,” Fugaku said as the puppet sagged to the ground. _Like a puppet with its strings cut,_ he thought before realizing that that was exactly what it was. “Come on, Kakashi, let’s get out of here,” he continued, turning back to where Itachi had been standing. “We got what we came for, so there’s no point—”

 

Itachi wasn’t there.

 

“Oh no, don’t tell me we have to go through all that _again_ ,” Kakashi breathed, his shoulders slumping a little in exhaustion. Fugaku inwardly echoed this sentiment as he saw that Itachi had returned to Sasori’s side while they were distracted.

 

“Release him,” Fugaku said, taking a fighting stance with his swords, even though he was fully aware that a show of force would do little good at this point. Sasori had the upper hand again and knew it.

 

Sasori only laughed as Kakashi and Fugaku prepared to fight. “So you still want to try, even though it’s futile. You humans are amusing—foolish, but amusing. Why do you even bother? Do you think your ‘Itachi’ cares at all what you’ve done for him?”

 

Standing impassively half a step behind his master, Itachi didn’t even react when his name was mentioned. Fugaku sighed inwardly; he knew that statue-like stillness far too well. If he managed to get Itachi back to Konoha, he would likely have to start almost all over again with the boy. “I will not abandon him,” Fugaku declared.

 

“Oh, really?” Sasori responded, his eyebrows rising in an expression that should have shown innocent curiosity on his childlike face but was instead frighteningly incongruous with his blank eyes. “Shall we see if that’s so, then?”

 

Before Fugaku could guess what Sasori could mean by that, a kunai appeared in the red-haired missing-nin’s hand with a suddenness that could not have come from a weapon summons.

 

Fugaku had once encountered a shinobi who could conceal weapons within her own body and bring them forth as needed, but as that had been many years ago when he was still on active duty, he couldn’t tell whether Sasori had used the same technique or not.

 

Reaching for his own weapons, Kakashi took a step towards the staircase. Fugaku just managed to grab his arm to stop him as Sasori held the kunai under Itachi’s chin. “Wait.”

 

“Yes, let’s not do anything stupid...” Sasori mocked. “Now,” he said after a moment, “we’re going to play a game of forfeits.”

 

“Forfeits?” Fugaku had a few guesses as to where this could be going, and none of them were at all pleasant.

 

Sasori nodded with a small smile. “I want to see how much you really meant what you said before. So, here’s the game: either you two can leave, and forfeit ‘Itachi,’ or—” he pushed a little harder on the kunai, and Itachi had to raise his head to keep the point from piercing his skin “—you two forfeit, and ‘Itachi’ goes free. Unless, of course, he decides that he wants to stay here.”

 

“What do you mean by forfeit?” Kakashi asked suspiciously.

 

“Oh, did I forget to tell you that?” Sasori practically chuckled. “You die.”

 

“Well, this was your idea, Fugaku,” Kakashi whispered, putting away his shuriken as they conferred. “What do we do?”

 

Fugaku sighed; he had not expected it to come to this. One one hand, he couldn’t bear the thought of letting Itachi be killed, whatever the cost to himself, but on the other hand Kakashi hardly deserved to die for a mission he’d been dragged into against his will. “I don’t know.”

 

“We might be able to take Sasori out before he can get us,” Kakashi pointed out.

 

“Yes, but not before he can kill Itachi!” Fugaku retorted.

 

“There is that...”

 

“Did I mention the time limit yet?” Sasori cut in. “You have one minute.”

 

“Sorry for getting you into this,” Fugaku said quietly.

 

Kakashi shrugged. “It’s mostly my fault for starting the whole mess, anyway,” he replied, straightening up and starting to unbuckle his weapons belt. “We forfeit,” he announced more loudly, dropping the belt to the floor with a metallic clatter. Fugaku followed suit, tossing his swords to the ground one after the other before discarding his own weapons belt.

 

“Just as I predicted,” Sasori said cheerfully. “You looked like the type to try and be ‘noble’. Sen’s such a good puppet, don’t you think?” he added, pulling the kunai away from Itachi’s chin. “He doesn’t even need strings—do you now?”

 

“No, Master-sama,” Itachi answered evenly.

  
“There, you see? Now,” Sasori continued, producing another kunai in the same manner as he had the first—Fugaku still couldn’t tell how, not that it mattered anymore— “just hold still; this won’t hurt half a bit.”


	16. Chapter 15

 

Fugaku’s mind was racing as Sasori prepared to throw, but inwardly he knew there was little use; he and Kakashi had both run out of tricks. Even if he had thought of anything, he didn’t have enough chakra to put a plan into action.

One of the downsides to possessing the Sharingan was that one could always see a strike coming, even if it was one that could not or would not be avoided, which created the unpleasant side effect of being forced to watch one’s own death in slow motion—

_ “Katon: goukyaku no jutsu!” _

Startled out of inaction by the sudden flash of light and flare of heat, Fugaku ducked before he thought, and the kunai lodged harmlessly in one of the workbenches behind him. Kakashi did the same, although not quite so quickly, and the kunai sliced into his shoulder before clattering to the floor. They both ignored the metallic sound, staring up the staircase.

Itachi was standing frozen at the top of the staircase, his hands still in the last seal for the technique as Sasori, taken completely by surprise, attempted to extinguish the fire. Darting up the stairs, Fugaku pulled Itachi out of the way just as Sasori discarded his flaming cloak and turned on him.

“You’ve gone and ruined the game,” Sasori snarled, his casual demeanor completely gone. “Now I’ll just have to get rid of all of you!”

Kakashi, who had taken the opportunity to retrieve his discarded weapons, threw a spread of shuriken at Sasori, distracting him long enough for Fugaku to get Itachi the rest of the way down the staircase.

Itachi seemed to be in shock at what he had just done, and while he wasn’t resisting Fugaku at all, he wasn’t exactly helping, either. He almost tripped on several steps, clinging shakily to Fugaku’s coat.

“I think we’re in trouble,” Kakashi said quickly, tossing Fugaku one of his swords as he reached the floor.

“No, really? I figured that out ages ago,” Fugaku snapped, half-turning toward Sasori but keeping a tight hold on Itachi’s wrist. He wasn’t going to let him be lured away again by Sasori’s commands.

“No, I mean really in trouble,” Kakashi said as Fugaku realized what he was talking about.

Sasori was himself a puppet. Now that he had thrown his cloak off, the joints were obvious, as well as the unnatural texture of his skin. It made a fiendish sort of sense, in a way, but only served to make things even more difficult than they already were. At least it explained his youthful appearance and the weapons appearing from nowhere, but that was little comfort now. Fugaku and Kakashi were both exhausted, but Sasori wouldn’t feel tired at all.

Sasori didn’t attack at once, and Fugaku spared a glance up to the staircase he had vacated. He wouldn’t have been at all surprised to find that the door turned out to be locked, or open on another closed chamber and not turn out to be an avenue of escape at all, but it was their only chance at the moment.

Kakashi seemed to have had the same idea, and motioned towards Sasori with the Konoha ninja sign for ‘distraction’. Fugaku nodded as Kakashi started going through seals, but the other Jounin didn’t leave his position at Fugaku’s side.

Having apparently examined his targets long enough, Sasori darted at them, launching a dozen kunai at Kakashi and slashing at Fugaku with a blade embedded in his wrist. As he was still holding on to Itachi, Fugaku was hard-pressed to defend himself and soon had a few more cuts to add to the large number he had already gained during the fighting. He really needed to keep up on his own training when he got back to Konoha, instead of just coaching Sasuke.

“What’s wrong?” Fugaku taunted as he parried the blade and dodged a flung kunai, trying to keep Sasori’s attention off of whatever Kakashi was up to (if he was indeed up to anything). “The great puppet master can’t even keep control of his own underlings?”

Taunting a more powerful opponent while he was already exhausted was probably not one of the most intelligent things Fugaku had ever done, he decided. Twisting to the side, he barely dodged a stabbing blow from another blade in Sasori’s other hand which would certainly have punctured a lung had it connected. If he had been able to use both his swords things would have been a little closer to even, but as it was Fugaku hoped Kakashi would either hurry up or offer him a little help.

Fugaku suddenly felt Kakashi’s presence vanish from at his side; Sasori didn’t notice this as all his attention was centered on Fugaku and more specifically, Itachi. “Sen,” Sasori said, his voice quiet but commanding as he paused a few feet away.

“Y-yes, Mas—”

“Itachi, don’t answer him!” Fugaku shouted. Itachi immediately fell silent, but Fugaku could feel his pulse racing through the grip he had on the boy’s wrist. From where Itachi was, if Sasori got through to him he could grab a kunai and stab Fugaku before he had any time to react. Fugaku forced himself not to think about that possibility.

Sasori’s eyes narrowed. “And what claim do you think you have over him?” he demanded. “You were the one who tried to get rid of him; if it weren’t for me he would have died of exposure. He doesn’t want you, Sen, you belong to me!”

Itachi tensed, and Fugaku knew he would be in a bad situation if Itachi started trying to get away from him. “Considering that _you just threatened to kill him,_ I hardly think you have any better claim,” Fugaku retorted. He wasn’t sure how much this argument would serve to convince Itachi, but it was the best he could do on the spot.

“Ah, but I do have prior claim,” Sasori pointed out.

Fugaku began turning in order to keep Itachi protectively behind him as Sasori circled around them. He had little strength to continue fighting if Sasori tired of talking and decided to attack again, but he tried not to look as exhausted as he felt. “Itachi is mine,” he said firmly. “He is my son, and I will not let him belong to you or anyone else.”

“Stupid human,” Sasori said, sounding frustrated and a bit bored. “Why don’t you just—”

Fugaku never found out what Sasori was about to say, as at that point the walls blew up. Sasori’s eyes widened in surprise as a chunk of rock barely missed Fugaku and slammed into him before he could duck, throwing him several feet away.

“What—” Fugaku began, coughing as the entire room was obscured by smoke. He could hear Itachi trying to smother coughs, as well.

“Uchiha, over here!” Kakashi’s voice shouted from what Fugaku thought was the general direction of the staircase. He sprinted towards it, dragging Itachi behind him and hoping Sasori wouldn’t recover and catch them before they could get there. Running blindly up the stairs, he nearly stumbled on one of the top steps but someone grabbed his hand before he could fall.

“Thanks, Kakashi,” he said quickly, ushering Itachi through the doorway ahead of him. Fugaku had never been so grateful for sunlight in all his life.

“Anytime,” Kakashi replied, shifting Bull’s weight on his shoulders as Pakkun darted through the door into the fresh air. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Is Sasori still alive?” Fugaku asked.

“Do we want to wait around and find out?” Kakashi countered, setting off a dozen more explosive tags that he had affixed around the entrance.

“Good point,” Fugaku replied.

Whether or not Sasori had survived the explosion, they went carefully as they found their way back to the trail through the mountains. They saw no sign of Deidara anywhere, at which Fugaku was not especially surprised. The blonde hadn’t looked like the type to hang around long after a battle, and Fugaku wouldn’t have been surprised if he had taken his chance to get away from Sasori as well.

Travelling down through the mountains was a bit easier than going up, but that was small help to Kakashi and Fugaku. Once they were a relatively safe two miles away, they paused to rest a bit and do what they could for their injuries.

“Itachi, are you all right?” Fugaku asked as he sank down wearily in the shade. Itachi half flinched, and Fugaku hoped he wasn’t about to start apologizing again. “I’m not angry at you,” he said gently, hoping to clarify things.

It really didn’t, unfortunately. “B-but I let Deidara-sama hurt Sasuke-sama,” Itachi protested. “And I gave him your scrolls, a-and helped him burn down the house—”

“Itachi,” Fugaku tried to interrupt, but for once Itachi didn’t listen to him.

“You sh-shouldn’t want me back,” Itachi said, sounding as if he was about to cry. “I’m not...I’m not anything.”

At this point Kakashi walked away, mumbling something about trying to find water for the dogs. Fugaku knew he wouldn’t find any, but was grateful for the privacy as he pulled Itachi down to sit beside him.

Fugaku wasn’t exactly sure what to say; he still knew painfully little about how his son’s mind worked and feared that attempting to comfort him would only make things worse instead of better. For a while they sat in silence, Fugaku gently stroking Itachi’s hair and relieved that he didn’t shy away from the contact.

“Do you think I would have come all this way to get you back if I thought you ‘weren’t anything?’” Fugaku said finally, hoping he had chosen the right words.

Itachi shrugged a little. “I am useful to you, Otou-sama,” he said. Fugaku wasn’t sure from the tone whether it was a statement or a question.

Fugaku sighed. “It isn’t that, Itachi,” he replied. “I couldn’t care less whether you were ‘useful’ or not. You’re my son. You don’t have to do anything to make me want you; I always will. Okay?”

“Yes, Otou-sama,” Itachi answered quietly. He sounded hopeful and maybe even happy, and Fugaku smiled in satisfaction.

“Good. Now let’s get home; your brother’s waiting.”

…...

They were almost to the base of the mountains when Fugaku noticed what looked like a group of horses and riders approaching from the distance. “Kakashi, we have company,” he said quickly.

Kakashi set Bull down for a moment and turned to look. “They’re probably from Konoha,” he pointed out.

“Yes, and by this point I’m probably wanted for arson, resisting arrest, escaping from custody, coercion, and who knows what else,” Fugaku replied, not wanting to say what the ‘else’ was in front of Itachi. “Not that we could get away from them by this point,” he finished with a sigh.

“I’ll put in a good word for you, if that helps,” Kakashi said, sounding apologetic.

“It might, at that,” Fugaku said as the horses neared their location. Hopefully Itachi’s presence and testimony would be enough to settle the whole business, but Kakashi withdrawing his accusation would certainly do a great deal of good.

“Kakashi!” Rin shrieked, flinging herself off her horse almost before it stopped and sprinting over to him. Obito reached them a few moments later, as he had actually waited until his horse was standing still before getting off. “We were looking all over for you,” Rin said breathlessly. “We thought—Itachi!” she gasped as she noticed him for the first time. “You’re safe!”

Itachi nodded shyly, although he looked a  little confused at her surprise. Fugaku realized that of course Itachi wouldn’t know of anything that had gone on in the village during his absence, including that everyone thought he was dead.

“Ha! I knew it!” Shisui cried as he cantered up. “I knew you wouldn’t do anything! Hey there, Itachi,” he continued, gracefully dismounting. “How are you? We’ve missed you, you know,” he said more seriously, before going back to his light tone. “I haven’t had a good game of Go in _ages_. Well, a day and a half, but still...”

“Goodness, look at you!” Rin was saying as she examined Kakashi’s numerous injuries. “What have you been doing to yourself?”

“Plenty, I assure you,” Kakashi drawled, his lazy demeanor back again now that they were no longer in danger. “But really, I think you should get to Fugaku first, he had it worse than I did.”


	17. Chapter 16

After the initial confusion caused by attempting to distribute six people and two dogs over three horses, the trip back to Konoha was surprisingly uneventful.

Itachi was quiet as he rode with Fugaku, but it was a peaceful sort of quiet, not that he was afraid to speak up. He did occasionally cast nervous glances back at the mountains behind them, however, as if he expected pursuit. Fugaku had to admit to a little worry on that score; he was not entirely certain that Sasori was dead, but it would definitely be some time before the puppet master recovered enough to come after them, if he had survived.

Rin and Obito were in a hurry to get back to Konoha, so they kept up a brisk pace over the plain. After several minutes, Fugaku looked down at Itachi to find that he had fallen asleep, and carefully shifted his hold on the boy so that his head rested more comfortably on Fugaku’s shoulder.

It was late afternoon by the time they got through the dense forest and reached the gates of Konoha. Fugaku hadn’t been expecting a large welcoming party, but he was a little surprised that nobody was there; he had been expecting a squad of police officers there to arrest him, at least.

“The police are still looking around for you in the nearby towns,” Rin explained as Kakashi dismounted then gallantly helped her down from the horse. “We left as soon as we realized Kakashi was gone.”

“And they didn’t tell anyone they were going, either,” Shisui said. “I only knew because I heard them talking about it in the hospital, and even then I barely managed to catch up to them by the time I got a horse.”

The guards were a bit confused as to what exactly was going on, but let them in readily enough after Obito convinced them that he had been in charge of bringing Fugaku back under arrest. They looked bored, and opened the gate without contest; it was nearing the end of their shift and they were therefore probably thinking about other things.

Fugaku got a lot of curious stares as he rode slowly through the streets (he didn’t want to wake Itachi, who was still sleeping peacefully), but no one attempted to stop him.

He knew that his house would be gone when he got to the compound, but it was still a shock to see the blackened ground where it had stood near the gate. Only the barest suggestions of some of the beams were left to show that a building had even existed there.

There had been so many memories the family had created there—he only hoped that perhaps some of the photo albums had been saved. Fugaku didn’t think he could bear losing all the mementos he had of his wife. Only a few small sections on the outskirts of the garden had survived the fire, and all but one of Mikoto’s precious rosebushes were gone.

Before rushing off to police headquarters to start explaining things, Shisui had said that he had taken Sasuke to his house before setting out after Obito and Rin, so Fugaku stopped there. It was a nice little house, although not as grand as Fugaku’s house had been as clan leader. However, as Shisui had three younger sisters it would be much too crowded with two more houseguests added to Sasuke. Fugaku would have to look around for a house to let while their own home was being rebuilt.

“Itachi,” Fugaku said quietly, gently shaking the boy’s shoulder a little. “Wake up, we’re here.”

Itachi slowly stirred, then suddenly flinched before relaxing as he realized Fugaku was there.

“We’re back in Konoha,” Fugaku explained, dismounting rather stiffly when he was sure Itachi was awake enough not to fall off the horse once he let go of him. Thanks to Rin’s ministrations, none of Fugaku’s injuries still actually hurt, but he was stiff and sore all over from the exertion of the past twenty-four hours. He hadn’t been in the habit of getting into scrapes like that since before he got married.

Itachi looked a bit unsure as to how to get off—Fugaku had the impression that he had never been on a horse before—so Fugaku helped him down before knocking insistently on the door of Shisui’s house.

There was no answer, but the door didn’t seem to be locked. Fugaku carefully pushed it open, as one never knew what sort of traps a ninja might set up for uninvited houseguests. “Hello? Anyone home?”

There was a shocked yelp from further inside the house, followed by running footsteps. “Otou-san!” Sasuke shouted as he dashed into the room. “You came back!” He caught sight of Itachi, but before he could say anything about that he was taken by a fit of coughing and had to lean on the wall to remain upright.

“Are you all right?” Fugaku asked, quickly moving to support him.

Sasuke nodded, although his voice was rough and scratchy when he spoke again. “It’s just from the smoke. It doesn’t even really hurt or anything; Rin-san said I wasn’t breathing it very long before Shisui got there. But what happened? You look awful—and everyone was saying Itachi was _dead_.”

It took Fugaku a while to explain everything to Sasuke, only leaving a few things out for Itachi’s sake. He had a feeling that he would end up telling it several times more before the day was through, although he hoped he would be permitted to rest first.

“Wow,” Sasuke said after he had finished, “you’re lucky to be alive, huh? You haven’t done any ninja stuff in ages.”

“I’m not that old,” Fugaku protested in mock anger, and Sasuke laughed before beginning to look pensive.

“What are we going to do now?” Sasuke asked after a few moments of silence. “Where are we going to stay?”

Fugaku had been too busy with other things to give that much thought as of yet. “Don’t worry about that, Sasuke,” he said reassuringly. “We can rebuild the house easily enough.”

“Sure, the house,” Sasuke muttered sulkily. “But what are we going to put in it?”

“I’m sorry...I didn’t mean it like that,” Fugaku said. “There wasn’t very much saved, was there?”

Sasuke shook his head. “Just me, pretty much, but there is a little stuff left. I think they got out a few boxes and your office safe. But besides that—Otou-san, I don’t have _anything_! These aren’t even my clothes I’m wearing right now, they’re what Tamiko-san’s kids have grown out of.”

“I’m sorry,” Itachi said quietly.

Both of the others looked at him in surprise, as it was the first he had spoken since getting to the compound. “What for? It’s not like all this was your fault,” Sasuke said bluntly.

“But I let Deidara-sama burn down the house...” Itachi said, nervously wringing his hands.

“And it’s not as if you could have really prevented him,” Sasuke pointed out. “Don’t worry about _that_ , I’m just glad you’re okay. Nobody would tell me anything, and when they did it sounded like you were dead or something. I mean, if you didn’t get back just now I probably would have gone to look for you. Hey, hey, Otou-san,” Sasuke continued, suddenly sounding very eager, “Since my video game set got burned up, we should get the newest version to replace it! It just came out a couple weeks ago and it looks awesome!”

Fugaku did remember a lot of hinting to that effect around that time, as well as an advertisement rather pointedly left in a pile of papers in the office. One of the few upsides to the fire was that now Fugaku had a great deal less paperwork to do. That is, until all the paperwork generated by the fire came in.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said. “There are a few more important things we should get first, though. Such as something to eat,” he continued. “Why don’t we go out somewhere after Itachi and I are a bit more presentable?”

“Sounds good to me,” Sasuke replied.

…...

They were just about to leave when there was a knock on the door of the little house. Itachi vanished from sight almost instantly, presumably somewhere further into the house although Fugaku couldn’t tell where. He couldn’t blame Itachi for being a bit jumpy after what he’d been through, although he hoped he wouldn’t be too hard to find later. Having Itachi out of his sight for even a little while set him on edge, although he knew it wouldn’t be fair to drag the boy away from his privacy.

“That’s probably just Kaito-ji-san,” Sasuke said as the knocking continued.

“Kaito-san wouldn’t knock on the door of his own house,” Fugaku pointed out, going over to the door. “Kaito-san doesn’t knock on any doors.” The only real reason for someone to be visiting at this hour was if they knew Fugaku was there. There wasn’t much of a point in his pretending he wasn’t, although he had hoped to have a little more time to spend with the boys.

“Fugaku-dono?” the rather put-upon looking chuunin at the door enquired. She wasn’t one Fugaku knew by name, so she was probably new; the newest chuunin were usually the ones who got run all over the village delivering messages to everyone and their nindog.

“Yes, what is it?”

“The Hokage wants to see you right away.”

Fugaku nodded in acknowledgment. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

The girl bowed quickly and dashed off, no doubt with some twenty or more other messages to deliver before the day was out.

Fugaku had been expecting a summons from the Hokage after Kakashi went to see him, but not quite this soon. “Dinner will have to wait, Sasuke,” he said, turning to see that Itachi had reappeared in the room as soon as the door was closed. “I have to go to the Hokage Tower; why don’t you and Itachi come too? We could go to one of the Akimichi restaurants on the way home.”

It took them a little while to get ready to go, as it was getting cold out and Itachi had no coat. While Fugaku was sure Shisui wouldn’t mind their borrowing one for a little while, finding one that came close to fitting was a different matter. Fortunately, it was still light by the time they left. Itachi stayed behind Fugaku most of the way in order to avoid the stares from the people they passed, although he seemed to have gotten over the fear of pursuit by now.

Kakashi was still in the Hokage’s office when Fugaku arrived, along with Rin and Obito. Fugaku wasn’t exactly sure what to expect as he ushered Itachi and Sasuke into the office ahead of him, but he hoped it would  be good news.

“You asked for me, Hokage-dono?”

“Yes,” the Hokage said. “I just wanted to settle a few things about what’s happened lately...To be honest, you should be in a great deal of trouble right now. However, all things considered, the only reason you broke out of jail was because we put you in jail in the first place, and everything else comes under that justification. Things really have turned out rather well, so I can overlook all that. Itachi-kun?”

Itachi half-flinched, clearly worried that he was about to get in trouble for something. “Y-yes, Hokage-sama?”

Sasuke quietly took Itachi’s hand, which Fugaku did not fail to notice although he didn’t say anything.

“Do you like it here?” the Hokage finally asked, to Fugaku’s relief. He had been worried that he would ask about something more sensitive, such as Sasori.

Itachi also looked a bit taken aback. “Me?”

“Yes,” the Hokage said patiently. “Do you like it here?”

Itachi froze in indecision, glancing quickly around the room for someone to prompt him. Fugaku patted his shoulder encouragingly, and Itachi finally nodded shyly.

“Yes,” he whispered. “I like it very much.”

 


	18. Epilogue

Itachi leaned over the porch railing, staring up at the sky. The stars were pretty, and he liked looking at them—they were free, and he thought that they must be happy, whatever they were doing up in the night sky. There was a large, bright moon tonight, and the evening was warm and drowsy.

“Nii-chan!” Sasuke called from inside. “Nii-chan?...Itachi,” he said insistently as he opened the door to the porch.

Itachi turned, realizing that Sasuke was speaking to him. He still hadn’t gotten used to Sasuke calling him ‘nii-chan’—something about being addressed with an honorific was inherently wrong to him. But Sasuke did like it, so he supposed it was all right. “What is it, Sasuke-san?”

“Tou-san got these for us, since we’re christening the new house today,” Sasuke said cheerfully, handing Itachi a long thin stick coated with some sort of chemical substance.

Itachi frowned as he examined it. “What are these?” he asked. Obviously Sasuke attached some significance to them, but honestly they didn’t look like much.

“Nii-chan, you’ve never seen a sparkler before?” Sasuke sounded horrified.

Itachi shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“No, that’s okay, don’t worry about it,” Sasuke said quickly. “Here, I’ll show you,” he added, taking Itachi by the hand and pulling him off the porch into the grass. “‘Cause of what happened to the last house, Tou-san said we hadn’t better play with them on the porch,” he explained, taking a box of matches out of his pocket. One sharp flare of chakra later, the match was lit and Sasuke carefully touched it to the tip of the stick Itachi was holding.

Itachi’s eyes widened at the burst of bright flashes of light, and held the sparkler a little away from him as it fizzed and sparked. Clearly this was what was supposed to happen, as Sasuke was happily lighting his own firework, the light from Itachi’s reflected in his dark eyes.

“Here, look!” Sasuke cried after a few seconds, twirling his sparkler so that the light trailed behind it into a brilliant spiral. He didn’t even seem to care that he might be burned as he darted back and forth around the grassy field.

Absently waving his sparkler back and forth, Itachi admired the patterns that the sparks created as they flew off the tip. It shone brightly, never the same from one moment to the next—it was almost like holding one of the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the first Cruel World story; the second is unfinished but I will be uploading it here soon. I am strongly considering bringing in a romantic interest for Fugaku in one of the later stories; what do you think?


End file.
